


KHR: The Inheritance Project - Phase One

by Tory_The_Kitteh



Series: 11th Generation Vongola [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Action, Bullying, Developing Friendships, Family Drama, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, Humor, Mafia shenanigans, Next Generation, Supernatural Elements, courtesy of Reborn, twinfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-24 08:31:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 51,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7501290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tory_The_Kitteh/pseuds/Tory_The_Kitteh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cielo Sawada (AKA Dame Sora) is a normal teenager. If you overlook the eye patch, his perfect twin brother being a jerk to him, his clueless Aunt, the fight maniac for best friend and the invisible being literally attached to his soul, then yes he is "normal". Then one day a strange man shows up claiming to be the world's no. 1 home tutor and hitman. Life about to get a whole lot crazier for Cielo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stranger in Town Project

**Author's Note:**

> So, here be the next story in the series. I actually never managed to finish this story... but, since I'm feeling inspired at the moment, I'm hoping to at least add a few more chapters. :) My main goal is to one day complete Phase One, even if I never finish the whole series...
> 
> In another note, I have drawn some stuff for this (its kinda crappy and old though). Its all on my Deviantart account here: http://torykitty.deviantart.com/
> 
> (Also this chapter was a bit experimental, so yeah... The next one returns to the usual writing style I used...)

_May 19 th, 20XX_

The particular day it happened was a very peaceful Sunday; the sun was shining, the birds were singing and a cool breeze softly glided over the town. Sawada Cielo got thrashed by Hibari Kai under the pretext of “training”, while Sawada Masamune spent the day at basketball practice.

The two of them went about their day unaware they were being watched; or at least Masamune was. Cielo had felt eyes on him the whole day, yet he couldn’t figure who it was or where they were. But since he’d been feeling that way for a couple of weeks now, he brushed it off as paranoia and carried on as usual.

The sun was setting as the silhouette of a man passed by the Sawada household. He paused briefly, tilting his black fedora up as he glanced through the open window where two of the house’s occupants were having dinner. The man’s highly trained ears picked up the soft sound of a guitar coming from the attic, confirming the location of the third resident of the household.

With a smirk he dropped a note in the letterbox and set off once more down the street. “Things are going to get interesting from here on out.” He chuckled lightly, his footsteps making no sound as he walked.

Both Cielo and Masamune suddenly felt a shiver run up their spines.

**………**

_May 6 th, 20XX. About two weeks prior…_

A man, dressed all in black, departs from a private jet at Namimori Airport. His luggage consists of a single silver briefcase and two manila folders tucked under his arm. As he walks through the airport, he gives off an intimidating and dangerous aura. Yet at the same time he has little presence, making it seem as though he was never there at all.

_Meanwhile in the Sawada household…_

Masamune strolls lazily down the stairs and into the kitchen, running a hand through his bed hair. “Buongiorno Mama.” He yawns as he sits at the head of the table.

“Good morning, my dear~.” Katerina sings as she places a plate loaded with eggs, sausages and bacon in front of him. “Here; a nice big breakfast for my wonderful nephew~.”

“Thank you Mama.” He responds flashing his charming smile (which falls away as soon as her back is turned). She giggles, places a plate of pancakes nearby and goes back to preparing more food. The peaceful atmosphere was disturbed by a loud “Hiieee!” and a crash as Cielo came tumbling down the stairs.

“Oww…” He sat up and rubbed his throbbing forehead.

“Honestly Cielo…” Katerina frowned, her voice laced with disappointment. “You’re thirteen already, why can’t you be more careful? What if you’d broken something?”

Cielo just rolled his eyes, knowing the ‘something’ was not a bone or the like. No. It was obvious she meant the furniture or the priceless objects that were scattered around the house for decoration. He stood up, brushed himself off and shouldered past her into the kitchen.

“There’s no cure for stupidity, mama. The same goes for clumsiness.” Masamune snickered as he passed by him.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” She replied with a sigh. Cielo felt his face grow hot and gritted his teeth, but remained silent. Before she could continue with her rant, her phone started ringing. She glanced at the number and clicked her tongue in annoyance before answering it.

Cielo grabbed a plate and served his own breakfast, since his aunt never cared to prepare a plate for him. He sat down at the other end of the table, as far away from his brother as possible, and began shovelling his breakfast down. Masamune ate at a more leisurely pace. Katerina was having a hushed conversation in Italian over the phone as she prepared their lunches.

“ _That will not be necessary.”_ She protests angrily. The response from the other person causes her to grind her teeth irritably. Suddenly remembering the presence of the twins, she turns to Masamune with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry sweetie, but I have some very important business to take care of, so I won’t be able to drive you to school today. Are you alright to walk?”

Once again Masamune presented that dazzling smile of his and replied pleasantly; “Of course Mama.” It left their aunt squealing happily and blushing like a school girl, totally missing the way his eyebrows twitched in annoyance and the icy glint in his eyes.

As she turned back to the phone conversation he let his smile drop and scowled at her back. Why should _he_ , the prince of Namimori Middle School, have to _walk_ to school? And risk being seen with his dame brother, the loser of the school and most hated person on campus? No thank you. Just being associated with him as his twin was embarrassing enough. He had a reputation to uphold after all.

“Isn’t it around the time you leave dame Sora?” He kept his voice pleasant while giving him a pointed glare. Cielo just snorted and downed the rest of his juice before silently making his way back upstairs. He knew what he really meant; “ _Get the hell out of my sight.”_

Masamune had somehow become even more nasty and spiteful since they entered junior high. He never fought back though, it just wasn’t worth it. He’ll be bullied and beaten up no matter what anyway, so there wasn’t really any point in telling on them or fighting back. It’ll only make things worse for him.

His brother had all the teachers and students wrapped around his finger, plus, who would believe Dame Sora over the wonderful and talented Sawada Masamune? No one, that’s who. Well, he did have Kai as his one and only ally. And, maybe Sawa-chan… but she was pretty much useless.

He changed into his uniform, grabbed his bag and made his way back downstairs (stumbling over the last few steps). He took his semi-prepared lunch, not really caring since it’ll probably get stolen or ruined, and left without saying goodbye. No one here would care, so why bother?

**………**

Obsidian eyes observed the students pouring into the school grounds from the roof. His sniper-like gaze zeroed in on one particular brunet. The boy shuddered and paused briefly, then shook his head and continued on his way. This caused the observer to let out a low chuckle, before lifting his gaze back to the school yard.

Twenty minutes later the sniper’s eye caught sight of his second targets sandy blonde hair. This boy gave no response that he had noticed the eyes on him. “How interesting…” Mused the sniper. He let out another low chuckle before disappearing into thin air. Leaving no trace of having been there at all.

_With Cielo…_

Cielo didn’t like it. That feeling just now, he was sure he felt someone watching him. But it disappeared as fast as it came. Aigís hadn’t felt it nor had he seen anything out of the ordinary either. Could it have just been his imagination? He hoped so… That gaze left him tingling all over with dread.

With a sigh he opened his shoe locker to find it was full of trash. Again… Good thing he has a spare set of indoor shoes with him. He fetched a dust pan and brush and began cleaning out all the crap they’d shoved in there. Dio, it stinks! They really went all out this time. Maybe he should get some air freshener from Sawa-chan…

_With Masamune…_

Someone had been watching him. It was only natural given his popularity; he’s had one or two stalkers before (and naturally, a few jealous glares). However, he’d felt a sense fear from that person’s powerful gaze; which was rather unnatural for him. Perhaps it was just Hibari-san since he seemed to really hate him for some reason.

That guy seems to hate everything and everyone with passion, with the exception of his little sister and dame Sora. How those two became friends, Masamune had absolutely no idea. Why anyone would _want_ to be dame Sora’s friend was a complete mystery to him. He was a loser and a freak after all. It was only natural to avoid people like him, wasn’t it?

**………**

The man entered his private room and immediately made himself a nice hot espresso. Taking a sip he settled down in the armchair and picked up a manila folder labelled ‘Sawada M’. With a smirk he pulled out the documents inside and scanned through the contents.

**_Name:_ ** _Sawada Masamune_

**_Gender:_ ** _Male_

**_Age:_ ** _13_

**_Date of birth:_ ** _November 7 20XX_

**_Blood type:_ ** _A_

**_Height:_ ** _167 cm_

**_Weight:_ ** _54 kg_

**_Family:_ **

  * _Sawada Cielo (older brother),_
  * _Sawada Tsunayoshi (Father),_
  * _Sawada Gisella (Mother),_
  * _Katerina Toscanini (Aunt and current guardian)_



**_Personal History:_ **

_Was born and raised in Sicily, Italy, until age seven when he moved with his Aunt and brother to Namimori, Japan. At an early age Masamune’s health was very poor and was physically weak. He suffered from many conditions such as bronchitis and a weak heart. As a result he spent most of his early life in constant care of doctors._

_It was questionable as to whether or not the child would survive at all. However, between the ages of two and three he began to make a miraculous recovery. As he got older he simply grew out of his conditions. Although he still requires frequent check-ups, he maintains a healthy disposition._

_He excels in both his studies and in sports. He shows talent as an artist having won nine young artist competitions for children twelve and under. Despite only being in his second year, he is currently the captain of the school basketball team. He gets along well with his peers and teachers, and is one of the most popular students at his school._

_…_

The man snorted as he flipped through the remaining seven pages, which were filled with his achievements and such. “Katerina… You never change...” He chuckled offhandedly and tossed the folder aside.

From what he knows of that woman and from how she adores the younger Sawada twin, he had an idea as to how the boy had been raised. Put in the spotlight, unconditionally loved, constantly praised and spoilt rotten. It’s the perfect recipe for creating a wonderfully arrogant and self-centred brat.

He smirked as he thought of the many things he would have to ‘teach’ young Masamune. Oh yes, they were going to have such a wonderful time together.

Meanwhile, Masamune sneezed and felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He put a hand to his forehead; did he catch a cold?

**………**

Having read all the remaining reports on the younger Sawada twin, the man prepared another espresso and picked up the other manila folder labelled ‘Sawada C’. He settled himself back down in his chair and began to read through it.

**_Name:_ ** _Sawada Cielo_

**_Gender:_** _Male_ (It would seem that some idiot made the mistake of writing ‘female’ and then tried to blot it out.)

**_Age:_ ** _13_

**_Date of birth:_ ** _November 7 20XX_

**_Blood type:_ ** _AB_

**_Height:_ ** _156 cm_

**_Weight:_ ** _45 kg_

**_Family:_ **

  * _Sawada Masamune (younger brother),_
  * _Sawada Tsunayoshi (Father),_
  * _Sawada Gisella (Mother),_
  * _Katerina Toscanini (Aunt and current guardian)_



**_Personal history:_ **

_Lived with his family in Italy until age seven when he moved together with his brother and aunt to Namimori, Japan. Unlike his brother, he was born perfectly healthy. While he lived in Italy he was known to be rather violent and temperamental. He was involved in an incident at his school which resulted in his expulsion._

_During this ‘incident’ the child attacked several students and teachers, resulting in over thirteen counts of grievous bodily harm. It was decided that he be put under close observation for six months afterwards. Having shown no signs of erratic or dangerous behaviour during this time, all charges were dropped._

_Since moving to Japan, the child has settled down considerably. His academic and athletic abilities are mediocre at best, having barely scraped into the grade point average. He demonstrates little, if any, interaction with his peers and overall has little social life._

_…_

There were only two pages written about Sawada Cielo, or rather, only one and a half pages. That woman was obviously disregarding the older twin. Neglecting and mistreating one child while spoiling and adoring the other will lead to a bad future for those twins. It’s a perfect breeding ground for hatred and resentment… Especially given that the child has a history of violence.

Yes, he would have to keep a close eye on that one. But first he would have to find out more about them. These reports from that woman were fairly useless; he’d have to carry out his own analysis. And then there was that _other_ thing.

The supernatural phenomenon dubbed, ‘Aigís’. Indeed, he would have to perform a thorough investigation on that matter…

“However, before that…” He stood and moved to the window, held his hand up to his fedora and a green chameleon slid onto it. “There are some ‘insects’ that require extermination.” He smirked as the chameleon transformed into a green gun.

**………**

_May 18 th, 20XX_

It had been almost two weeks since the man began his investigation. In this time he had come to many conclusions on the Sawada twins.

Firstly there was Masamune.

Yes, the boy was intelligent and yes he had great athletic proficiency. However, as he had first concluded, the child was arrogant, overconfident in his abilities, selfish and a spoilt brat. There were so many faults in his personality compared to the picture-perfect image he sports.

However, he’ll give him credit where it’s due. The brat was charismatic, an excellent speaker and people were drawn to him; all of which show the makings of a leader. This is likely why the brat is so popular. The brat’s acting skills were top notch too, although, not good enough to fool his eyes.

Also, there was something in the way Masamune approached his peers. He got along with everyone quite well (minus those who were unpopular or social outcasts), yet it was as though he wasn’t actually _friends_ with very many of them. As if he only tolerated being near them purely because of their social status.

He noted that Masamune carefully hid the cold look in his eyes when he spoke to his so-called friends. It was as if he didn’t truly believe any of them to be his friends, save for his inner circle. He likely didn’t trust any of them with his secrets either. Having doubt in others was not necessarily a bad thing though.

Being too trusting of others can be dangerous. One must always keep a small amount of doubt when making decisions. After all, nothing in the world is completely true; there is always room doubt and misinterpretation.

All these skills could be quite useful in the future, especially in the particular line of work they’ll be a part of soon. He just needed to give the brat a little attitude adjustment.

Then there was Sawada Cielo.

Honestly, he has yet to determine whether or not this kid was a complete and utter idiot, or an undiscovered genius…

True, his marks were terrible and were always in the lowest percentage. Yet when he looked at the boys tests from his first few years of school, he was somewhat surprised. For instance, in maths he was using high level equations (that a boy his age shouldn’t even know) to solve problems.

Using these formulas may be correct, but given the context he simply couldn’t fathom how the child came up with them or why. In science he also showed knowledge of high level formulas and concepts that one usually doesn’t learn until high school. Yet once again they’re being used incorrectly and in the wrong places. 

In history and Japanese, it was clear the boy was just being stubborn. He would write long and detailed essays in a mix of Italian and English instead of Japanese. And he would write about Italian history rather than Japanese. It would seem that most his teachers simply failed him out of spite.

Although, by the fifth grade, his Japanese scores suddenly began to improve. At the same time his English scores plummeted… Was there just not enough room in this kid’s head for all three languages or something? Or was he really just an idiot after all? The verdict is still out.

Frankly the man was quite disappointed in the school and the teachers for not being able to recognise the potential this kid had. If he had been properly tutored then perhaps he wouldn’t be the D grade student he is today. A fact he intends to change.

Another thing the man noticed about Cielo Sawada was his, well, ‘dame-ness’.

“Humph, like father like son…” He commented as he watched the boy running away from a fluffy little Chihuahua as if his life depended on it.

Indeed, this child may be even more unlucky than his dame ex-student. He thought when he saw Cielo trip, his shoe flying off and landing on top off a taxi. He then spent the rest of the day watching the boy run around the whole of Namimori after it.

He was most definitely a wimp and a coward too.

Cielo was a constant victim of bullying. The majority of which comes from his younger brother and his friends. It irked him to no end watching watch how they would beat him black and blue, yet he made no move whatsoever to defend himself. After each beating though, he would just stand up go on his way as if he wasn’t hurt at all.

So the boy had a tolerance for pain… this was intriguing. It wasn’t until the last few days when he found out the reason why. Cielo only seemed to have the one friend; Hibari Kai (funnily enough, the son of a certain blood thirsty former prefect). And it would seem that the Hibari child was attempting to teach his friend how to fight.

These sparring sessions were very interesting to watch. So much so that the man wished he had discovered them earlier. From the looks of things the two were more interested in the boy’s ability to wield fire, rather than him learning self-defence.

He could clearly see why; the raw power of Sawada Cielo’s dying will flames was as incredible as he’s heard. It was rather unpolished though, and he lacked form and control. But the potential was there and with it he was able to fight on par with the Hibari boy.

Sawada Masamune had yet to show any signs of possessing the ability to wield dying will flames. But he could sense something about the brat that told him otherwise. What it was exactly, he had yet to determine. He required data on the twin’s flames.

If he recalled correctly, a certain mad scientist was conducting research on dying will flames, and one of his assistants was located at Namichuu. An old colleague of that perverted doctor if he’s not mistaken. Of course, that overprotective ex-student of his would have already made contact with her.

It was high time he paid a visit to one Maede Sawako.

**………**

_May 20 th, 20XX_

It was a lovely Monday morning. The weather was nice and warm, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, sakura petals dyed the sidewalk a pale pink and overall everything looked bright and cheerful. Much like the day before had been. And much like yesterday, both Sawada twins could not help but feel a strange sense of dread.

Cielo felt restless and found it very difficult to sit still. Unable to stay up in his room any longer he decided he’d just get up and go to school an hour earlier. Maybe he could just hang out with Kai as he did his morning inspection of the school grounds. He got dressed and made his way downstairs.

Masamune on the other hand found it difficult to get out of bed today. He could tell it was going to one of those days when you just wished you’d never gotten up at all. Currently he was debating whether or not he should just fake sickness and just stay home. But then he’d miss today’s English test and afternoon practice for basketball. How troublesome…

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps going down the stairs, then a “hiiee!” and a heavy ‘thud’. His dame brother must have fallen down the stairs again. It was practically a morning ritual in their house. How can someone fall down the exact same stairs every single bloody day?

Cielo groaned a little as he picked himself off the floor. He swears those damn steps were out to get him! Looking to the kitchen he found a whole damn feast spread out over the dining table, and his aunt standing over the stove, muttering furiously to herself while cooking even more food! What the hell?

Seeing as Katerina wasn’t in the best of moods, he just sneaks around the table quietly and sat down at the far end away from her and where his brother will be later. As he piled up his plate he glanced back to the kitchen and noticed there was a note on the bench. He leaned over and picked it up. It was some kind of flyer for… a home tutor!

Oh Dio, did his aunt decide he was so useless that he needed damn tutor? And what the diamine is with this flyer, “I will raise your children to be the leaders of the next generation. Grade and subject matter is of no consequence. –Reborn.”

**“It sounds like a scam.”**

“Thought so…” He muttered under his breath so Katerina wouldn’t hear him. And what kind of name is ‘Reborn’ anyway? It can’t be their real name, it’s all too suspicious.

“What are looking at dame Sora?” Masamune growls as he snatches the flyer out of his hands. Geez, one would think he’d have the courtesy to ask first given how much the teachers like him, but nooo.

“Ha-ha! What’s with this? A home tutor!?” He sniggered as he read over the flyer.  “This is definitely a scam. Not that it would make much difference. Right, dame Sora?” He sneered at me as Cielo sat back down.

He just rolled his eyes and went back to eating his breakfast (or should he say break _feast_ ). But then the doorbell rang and Katerina turned to him. “Cielo, get the door will you. My hands are full right now.”

With a sigh he got up and went to answer the door. Only he slipped in front of the door and ended up slamming headfirst into it. “Ow…” He held a hand to his throbbing nose and opened the door. “Ugh… who is it…?”

The greeting he received caused him to do a double take.

“Chaos.”


	2. The We're in the Mafia!? Project

_May 20 th, 20XX_

It was a lovely Monday morning. The weather was nice and warm, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, sakura petals dyed the sidewalk a pale pink and overall everything looked bright and cheerful. Much like the day before had been. And much like yesterday, both Sawada twins could not help but feel a strange sense of dread.

Cielo felt restless and found it very difficult to sit still. Unable to stay up in his room any longer he decided he’d just get up and go to school an hour earlier. Maybe he could just hang out with Kai as he did his morning inspection of the school grounds. He got dressed and made his way downstairs.

Masamune on the other hand found it difficult to get out of bed today. He could tell it was going to one of those days when you just wished you’d never gotten up at all. Currently he was debating whether or not he should just fake sickness and just stay home. But then he’d miss today’s English test and afternoon practice for basketball. How troublesome…

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps going down the stairs, then a “hiiee!” and a heavy ‘thud’. His dame brother must have fallen down the stairs again. It was practically a morning ritual in their house. How can someone fall down the exact same stairs every single bloody day?

Cielo groaned a little as he picked himself off the floor. He swears those damn steps were out to get him! Looking to the kitchen he found a whole damn feast spread out over the dining table, and his aunt standing over the stove, muttering furiously to herself while cooking even more food! What the hell?

Seeing as Katerina wasn’t in the best of moods, he just sneaks around the table quietly and sat down at the far end away from her and where his brother will be later. As he piled up his plate he glanced back to the kitchen and noticed there was a note on the bench. He leaned over and picked it up. It was some kind of flyer for… a home tutor!

Oh Dio, did his aunt decide he was so useless that he needed damn tutor? And what the diamine is with this flyer, “I will raise your children to be the leaders of the next generation. Grade and subject matter is of no consequence. –Reborn.”

**“It sounds like a scam.”**

“Thought so…” He muttered under his breath so Katerina wouldn’t hear him. And what kind of name is ‘Reborn’ anyway? It can’t be their real name, it’s all too suspicious.

“What are looking at dame Sora?” Masamune growls as he snatches the flyer out of his hands. Geez, one would think he’d have the courtesy to ask first given how much the teachers like him, but nooo.

“Ha-ha! What’s with this? A home tutor!?” He sniggered as he read over the flyer.  “This is definitely a scam. Not that it would make much difference. Right, dame Sora?” He sneered at me as Cielo sat back down.

He just rolled his eyes and went back to eating his breakfast (or should he say break _feast_ ). But then the doorbell rang and Katerina turned to him. “Cielo, get the door will you. My hands are full right now.”

With a sigh he got up and went to answer the door. Only he slipped in front of the door and ended up slamming headfirst into it. “Ow…” He held a hand to his throbbing nose and opened the door. “Ugh… who is it…?”

The greeting he received caused him to do a double take.

“Chaos.”

**………**

I stared blankly at the stranger for a few seconds before awkwardly returning the greeting, “…Oh… Um…. Ciaossu!” Oh, crap. Wrong greeting. “Ah! I-I mean… um… O-ohayo…” I stutter out embarrassingly.

When I was really little I used to greet everyone with ‘ciaossu’. I don’t really remember when or how I came up with it (probably heard it somewhere), but everyone’s reaction to it was so funny I made it my personal greeting. I don’t say it that much now but every now and then it just slips out.

The stranger just raised a brow at me before chuckled a little and tilting his black fedora downwards, shading his eyes. Is… is that a lizard!? Why is there a little _lizard_ sitting on the brim of his fedora? More importantly who this diamine is this guy? Now that I fully take in his appearance, this guy looks really weird.

He’s dressed in a black suit with a yellow shirt and black tie (the band on his fedora is orange). By his feet is this heavy looking silver briefcase, but he doesn’t really look like he’s a salesman. I lift my eyes to his face, wow; he’s got the purest black eyes I’ve ever seen! They’re really pretty. And his sideburns… are all curly… I want to touch them…

“No you may not touch them.” He says with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

**“Holy shit! How did he do that!?”**

“You read minds!?” So cool! So freaking cool!

“Cielo! Who’s there?” Katerina calls from the kitchen. Oh right, strange man at the door…

“Some weird guy in black suit, with a lizard and a silver briefcase!” I shout back to her.

“Oi.”

**“One of these days you’re gonna get yourself killed for saying things like that…”**

I tilt my head up to Aigís questioningly, “Huh? Why?”

“What are you talking about? If it’s a sales person, tell them we’re not interested.” Katerina sounds pretty irritated, was she expecting someone or something?

“Is what she said.” I turn back to the stranger, “Are you a sales person?” I don’t think so though…

“I am Reborn, the home tutor.” He replies nonchalantly.

“…” I stare blankly at him. “You don’t look anything like a home tutor though.” More like some kind of CIA agent or ‘James Bond’ type spy or something… only he looks Italian…

He just chuckles a little. “I assure you, Sawada Cielo, I am the best in the business.”

Merda! How does he know my name!? Wait! Wasn’t the name ‘Reborn’ on that phony flyer? Then… maybe he’s actually telling the truth…? At least, that he’s the home tutor the flyer mentioned anyway… I guess I have no choice but to get Katerina to make sure… Yeah, I’ll do that…

“Umm… okay then… Uh… my aunt is in the kitchen… this way…” Also, the tingly feeling in my get tells me that not letting him in would result in a lot of pain later on… This guy, Reborn, has a really scary aura. I really don’t want to piss him off… With a smirk he picks up his briefcase and follows me inside. “Katerina. The, uh, home tutor’s here…”

“Chaos.”

“Reborn!” Katerina screeched, dropping a plate on the floor with a loud crash. What the..? “What’s all this about a ‘home tutor’!? WHO SENT YOU!?”

That ‘Reborn’ guy just smirked at her. This only pissed her off even more and she looked like she was about to explode. Not wanting to get caught in the cross fire, I ran up to my room grabbed my bag and made a speedy getaway. I could still hear her shrieking from down the street... Okay… maybe that was a bad idea after all…

Seriously what was up with that guy, how does Katerina know him? And there was something weird about him… I had this very strange feeling when I was near him. Kinda like… nostalgia… It might be the strong aroma of coffee that stuck to him.

That scent of coffee clung to Padre’s too…

**………**

Despite all that fuss I still ended up at school about an hour earlier than normal. There was a large group of guys by the front entrance; I spotted Kai’s distinctive red and black hair amongst them. It looks like he’s dealing out some ‘punishment’ to a group of hoodlums, probably ex-disciplinary committee members.

Apparently this school once had a very brutal and ruthless disciplinary committee chairman. He had practically run the whole school and kept all the delinquents in Namimori in line. Several years after he graduated the disciplinary committee was taken over by a group of thugs who used their status as committee members to basically do as they pleased.

On Kai’s first day they picked a fight with him for some stupid reason and he annihilated the lot of them. After that the student council president used the opportunity to sack the whole committee and replace it with entirely new members. Since Kai had pretty much defeated every delinquent in the school he was asked to become the chairman.

But he’s too shy for that kind of thing, besides he hates being tied down to any one group. He just does his own thing while everyone tries not to get in his way. I think the only reason they let him be was because he’s enforcing the school rules (that and he’ll bite anyone who gets in his way to death).

I walk up to him, stepping over a few bodies. “Kai, Ciaossu!” Oh. Wrong greeting again. Wow, that’s twice in one day. Oh well.

 **“Little Kai-chi’s really gone all out this morning.”** Aigís comments as he investigates a few of the many bodies lying around. True, there are quite a lot of them today.

“Small animal.” He nods at me as he sends the last one flying with his steel whip. “…Early…”

“…Weird man… Katerina… fight… escaped…” We tend to skip a lot of words when we talk to one another.

“…Man…?” He questions as I put on my clean indoor shoes on (guess I got here earlier than the bullies today).

“Home tutor… Don’t think he is though…” I yawn and rub my eye; warm days like this make me sleepy.

“Hn.” Kai just grunted and stalks off to do his morning rounds with me trailing after him.

As we wander the hallways I think back over that strange tutor guy. He can’t possibly be here for Masamune so he must be here to tutor me. I don’t want a tutor; I’ve always just asked Kai or Sawa-chan to help me with studying. Oh, wait. Katerina wasn’t all that pleased with him showing up so maybe… maybe she’ll send him away!

“Hibari Kai, what a coincidence seeing you here this fine morning.” A smug male voice snaps me out of my reverie. Peaking over Kai’s shoulder I spot the Student Council President, Tanaka Mikami. Merda! What’s he doing here? “I was hoping you would reconsider not taking the position of Disciplinary Committee Chairman.”

 **“Geez, is he still going on about that?”** I know right. Hounding him like this is only going to piss him off even more. Besides, Kai can be really difficult when he wants to be.

He just glares at him before stalking off again, without bothering to answer him. Not wanting to be left alone with the sadistic President I race after him. I don’t like that guy, he’s so freaking scary.

In terms of social status, he’s probably as popular as or even more so than Masamune. The two of them don’t really get along (actually they despise each other with passion) and usually avoid one another. But in front of everyone else, they appear to be really good friends. I think they have some kind of truce so as not to ruin their images or something.

It all sounds pretty stupid to me… I’ll never understand how popular people think.

**………**

Well. Today really sucked.

I didn’t understand anything on the English test. I got beat up and my money was stolen at lunch so I had to go without. In sport we played basketball, which unlike Masamune I fail miserably at. I caught the ball that came flying at my face purely on instinct and when they all came running towards me, I panicked and just threw it up in the air.

By some miracle it ended up in the basket. It was the first time I’ve ever scored.

Too bad it was in my own team’s goal…

Now I’ve been left to clean up the whole damn gym by myself, since it was “dame Sora’s fault we lost”. Yeah, their complete lack of skills had absolutely nothing to do with it… it’s all because I’m a clumsy idiot that sucks at sports.

The only reason a ‘dame’ person like me even come to school is because of my best friend, Hibari Kai. I smile wryly as I think of the day we first met. He was practically trying to kill me then… I often wonder how it is we went from that to the being best of friends. But If I hadn’t met him, I would have probably just given up on everything.

With a sigh I look around the gym at all the equipment still lying around. Seriously though, how do they expect me clean all this up by myself? Screw it, I’m going home. I don’t care if there’s still classes left or if I get in trouble tomorrow.

Hopefully Katerina sorted out the thing with the ‘home tutor’ guy. He’s seems really cool and all but, frankly, he scares the shit out of me. I have this really bad feeling about him too… I don’t want to see him again… Suppressing a shudder I give my head a shake to get rid of the bad thoughts.

I stretch my arms above my head; it’s really nice weather today. I want to play my guitar. I make the shape of chords with my hand as I walk. Guitar has to be the one thing I’m actually good at; I practice every day for hours on end. Sometimes I go over to Kai’s place and we jam together. Kai is a bass prodigy, if he didn’t have stage fright he could totally go pro.

High pitched barking yanked me from my daydreaming and I spin around. Oh merda! That damn Chihuahua has gotten loose from its owner again! It growls and eyes me dangerously. “N-nice doggy…” I stutter and take a step back. As soon as I do it charges at me barking wildly.

**“Run for your life!”**

“HIIIEEEE!” I scream as I pelt down the street with this devil hound snapping at my heels. I don’t know which is worse, Masamune’s punch or this dog’s bite... Its bite is definitely worse than its bark… and that’s saying something given how loud and fierce it can sound.

“C-captain! Emergency countermeasures!” I shout breathlessly.

 **“Deploying!”** Aigís sends several random objects flying into the dog’s path.

It yelps as it crashes into a garbage bin. I stop and turn around panting heavily. “Di-did we get him?”

 **“… It’s not moving so…”** Yes! Victory!

Or so I thought…

It crawls out from under the trash snarling furiously at me. Merda, I think we just pissed it off even more! Before I can move it lunges forward and sinks its fangs into my foot. “HIIIIIEEEEEE! GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!” I scream and flail around desperately.

**“Wai— if you would jus— h-hold still dammit!”**

“IMPOSSIBLE!” I cry. Oh Dio all mighty! The pain! As I thrash around wildly trying to fling this _thing_ off me, I accidently step on a loose glass bottle and end up flying backwards and landing painfully on my arse. “Owowow…”

Huh? My foot doesn’t hurt anymore… Oh. The dog’s gone… ARGH! My freaking _shoe_ is gone! The damn laces must come loose again (laces just hate me and refuse to tie up properly for me). Ugh! Where the diamine is it!?

 **“…Umm… I found it, but…”** Looking up I spot the dog a little ways off, getting up off the ground with my shoe dangling in its jaws… Oh, merda…

Catching my eye, it gives itself a shake and then takes off down the street. Son of a— that little bastardo just stole my effing shoe! “Oi, wait! GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SALAUD!” I race after it limping slightly.

**………**

What the diamine is with this mutt!? How can it have so much damn stamina in such a dinky little body!? I’ve been chasing it around town for over an hour now (my sock is pretty much ruined)! I’m at my limit, I can’t run much further. It’s now or never!

“Your mine!” I dive forward hands outstretched reaching for the mutt. But he was quicker, and slipped between my fingers.

 **“Second attack!”** Aigís manages to seize one of its legs and with a surprised yelp it tumbles over, dropping my shoe in the process.

Success!

I come skidding to a halt and push myself up on my elbows panting heavily. The dog whimpers before running away with its tail between its legs. Serves you right, little bastardo! With a grunt I stumble to my feet and wobble forward to claim my prize.

Just as I’m about to pick it up, this massive _bird_ just swoops down and snatches it up and flies off, leaving me frozen on the spot.

**“Well... that’s not something you see every day…”**

Ya think? Seriously, a freaking bird just stole the shoe I had run around the whole town trying to get back… A BIRD!

Super ultra-mega delicious wonderful crap…

**………**

Finally! Home sweet home! I could almost cry with joy as I stumble through the front gate, one shoe missing and covered in dirt from head to toe.

I tried to chase down the bird too but lost sight of it… Okay, seriously now, who the diamine gets their freaking shoe stolen by a bird!? A BIRD! I must be the only person in the whole damn world to have that happen to them… Either some sick cazzo has trained it just to mess with me or Dio is playing a really bad prank on me…

While I was looking for my shoe I managed to get lost too. Then I ran into a group of thugs. Luckily they hadn’t noticed me since they were too busy getting pulverised by some other punk. At first I stupidly mistook him for Kai since he was wearing the Namimori middle school uniform and was taking on (and winning against) about twenty guys.

But then I noticed the silver hair and the fact it was the _girls_ uniform. She didn’t seem to be having any problem fighting them so I figure I shouldn’t interfere. I hung around though, only because they outnumbered her and brutes like these tend to fight dirty. Besides, I was lost, and she might have seen where that damn bird went too.

She didn’t need my help at all, and knocked out every single one of them in no time flat. Kai would be impressed; he respected strong people like her. She was starting to leave so I tried to get her attention, “Umm… excuse me, uh… m-miss?”

She spun around her emerald eyes wide and her guard immediately up. I guess she hadn’t even noticed me until then, but I am the type of person that just blends into the background so… “Uh… you haven’t seen some kind of hawk carrying a shoe by any chance have you?” I ask sheepishly.

She just gaped at me speechlessly before suddenly landing a drop kick to my gut, flashing her panties as she did so, and running away while I was sprawled out on the floor. Talk about rude!

Kicking an innocent bystander and running off without so much as a ‘sorry’! And she could have at least had the decency to wear shorts underneath her skirt to spare the image of her strawberry print panties. I don’t want to see your freaking underwear, ever!

Sigh, at least I’m finally home now. All I want to do is take a nice hot bath and just crawl into bed. Some sleep would be nice too, but I doubt I’ll get any tonight either… It’s been about three weeks since I’ve gotten any proper sleep. Oh, well.

Lazily I opened the door and slid inside silently. For the second time today the greeting I received caused me to do a double take. (The fact I received a greeting at all was strange enough as it is…)

“Chaos.”

 **“That guy is still here!”** Why!? I thought Katerina would have gotten rid of him by now! I stare dubiously at him, pretty much frozen on the spot.

He just smirked a little and tilted his head to the clock, “Dame Sora, you’re quite late considering you left school early.”

“Eeeeh!? Why do you know I’m ‘dame Sora’? And how did you know I left early!?”

“I’m your home tutor after all. It’s on natural I should know everything about my students.” He replied smoothly. I just stood there gawking rather stupidly at him. “Hm?” He raised a brow at my shoeless foot. “What happened to your other shoe?”

“I thought you knew everything.” I countered lightly, removing my one remaining shoe.

Although his expression remained blank, I caught a very feint glint of approval in his black irises. “Touché dame Sora.” He chuckled as he made his way into the living room, motioning me to follow him.

I adjusted my eye patch a little and reluctantly walked up behind him. Masamune was already seated, impatiently tapping him finger on the armrest with a sulky look on his face. Katerina was nowhere in sight though… Maybe she went out?

Masamune glanced up at me and scoffed, “Why the hell are you covered in dirt, dame Sora?” He didn’t bother holding back the spite in his voice, only because Katerina wasn’t here and he clearly didn’t give a damn about the presence of the home tutor guy.

“I chased around town by a dog and then my shoe was stolen by a hawk or eagle or something.” I replied dully and sat down on the opposite side of the couch.

I rolled my eyes as Masamune fell into a fit of mocking laughter, instead, focusing my attention on the ‘home tutor’ sitting comfortably in the armchair opposite us drinking a coffee.

 **“Well! He certainly made himself right at home, hasn’t he?”** That he has… just who is this guy really?

Seemingly having had enough of Masamune’s laughter, he reached for the little lizard on his fedora and it transformed into a giant mallet which he then proceeded to slam Masamune’s head into the ground with. It all happened so fast I was too shocked to move.

 **“THE LIZARD BECAME A MALLET!”** Is he a magician too!?

Reborn smirked and the mallet turned back into a lizard. “This is my partner Leon; he’s a special shape-shifting chameleon.”

Masamune groaned on the floor and clutched his throbbing head… I ignored the very small part of me that was just a tiny bit satisfied to see my brother being put in his place.

“Y-you…” he grunted getting back on his feet. “What the hell was that for! Just who the hell, do you think you are!?” He was red in the face and if looks could kill, well, there wouldn’t be any weird home tutor in the room.

But Reborn just brushed him off, taking another sip of his coffee. “I am a home tutor and the world's number one hitman, Reborn.” D-did he just say hitman? “The two of you will be in my care for the next few years.” Umm…. He said ‘hitman’ right?

 “What? Is there something wrong with your head? Dame Sora might, but I don’t need a tutor!” Masamune sneered shooting me a disgusted look.

Hello! He said ‘ _hitman_ ’ Masamune. Am I the only one who heard that?

There was a dull thud as he was once again flung to the ground. **“Ha-ha! I like this guy!”**

“I will only say this once; I am to tutor the both of you.” He gave Masamune a pointed smirk. “My real job is to train the both of you into Mafioso. When your training is complete one of you will be chosen to be the next boss of the Vongola Family.”

“…”

“…”

“WHAT!” We scream in unison.


	3. The First Lesson Project

Far away from the Sawada residence, in the top floor penthouse of a high-class luxury apartment building, a young girl with silver hair sits at her desk with her head in her hands. The atmosphere around her is rather gloomy.

A woman knocks on her door, “Ojou-sama, dinner is ready.” She calls. “Ano… Ojou-sama?”

At this time the girl’s only thoughts are: “I’ve been seen… my life is over…”

“Ojou-sama? Is everything alright?” The woman calls again and tries to open the door only to find it locked. The girl continues to ignore her and slams her head on the desk, wallowing in her despair.

Her name is Gokudera Azusa, the only daughter of a high ranking official in one of the world’s largest international company. She moved here to Namimori with her nanny/maid, Clara Alessi, about a year ago. She’s the quiet, studious type of girl; your typical feminine and delicate wealthy young lady.

...Is what her classmates think.

Truthfully Azusa is a loud, impatient and energetic girl. She has a black belt in karate and is stronger than most boys, thus often got into brawls with the local gangsters. To spite her father (whom she is always fighting with) she learnt to play the drums instead of the piano and got a skull rose tattoo on her shoulder. Needless to say, he was furious with her.

However, by the time she was twelve she grew tired of her reputation as a tomboy thug and the constant brawls she got into because of it. When her father forced her to move to Japan, to attend Namimori Middle School, she decided it was time to turn over a new leaf. She acts more ‘ladylike’ and works hard to keep her character of a well brought up young lady.

As of now that hard earned reputation is at stake!

Keeping up appearances is stressful work, and she needed to relieve some that stress; mainly by beating the crap out of some local thugs. She was a right on the edge of town, Namichuu students never come out to that area. YET! She was seen by some chibi cross-dressing brat, unmistakably wearing the Namichuu school uniform!

“Argh!!! It’s all over!!!” She cries and collapses onto the floor.

“Ojou-sama, are you okay!?” Clara calls worriedly, still outside the door. Azusa simply ignored letting her despair run wild…

She’s done for! That brat is sure to go around telling everybody about her! It’s only a matter of time before the rumour spreads about her tomboyish nature and all her friends start to doubt her! She’ll become a social outcast, she’ll never be able to get a boyfriend, and all the school thugs will start targeting her again!

No, wait! There’s still time! If she can put an end to the rumours before they really take off then maybe, just maybe, she can still save her image!

“That’s right…hehehe…” She slowly rises from the floor and begins to laugh creepily.

“O-o-oujo…sama…?” Clara questions fearfully, still outside.

Grinning evilly, Azusa took the key hanging around her neck and unlocked a secret compartment in the wall. It opens up to reveal several firearms of different shapes and sizes. After a moment of thought she picked two handguns; a black colt M1911 (custom made of course) and a dark red Beretta M1915 (also custom made).

“I just have to end that scrawny brat before she can end me! Muahahaha!” Her maniacal laughter echo’s throughout their home.

She is Gokudera Azusa, the only daughter of a high ranking official of one of the world’s most powerful mafia families, and an accomplished hitman. Her bodyguard/maid, Clara Alessi, is currently very worried about her mistress’s sanity.

“…Ojou-sama…”

**………**

“Aachoo!” I sneeze so hard I nearly fall off the bed.

**“Vi benedica.”**

“Ugh, grazie…” I sniff. I didn’t catch a cold did I? Great, like my list of problems isn’t long enough already…

I sigh as I think back on the strange conversation with the home tutor— I mean _hitman,_ Reborn. Which had led me to spend the past three hours sitting here playing my guitar attempting to process all that information…

…

_A gunshot sounds as a bullet flies between the empty space between our heads. “There will be no interruptions while I speak or I will be forced to use this.” He raises a green gun with a dangerous glint in his eye._

**_“Holy shit!”_ ** _This guy is so freaking scary!!!_

_“YOU’VE ALREADY USED IT!!!” Masamune shrieks and earns himself another trip to the floor._

_I’d have shouted too if not for the fact I was unable to move and I’d lost my voice. That and I don’t want to end up like Masamune… Yeah, I’ll just quietly listen to him and pray he doesn’t try to murder me…_

_I stiffen when he turns to me, “I trust there will be no more interruptions.”_

_I shake my head vigorously while Masamune picks himself off the floor again. He grumbles a little and glares but otherwise says nothing. Reborn smirks and begins his explanation again. I can tell this is going to be a very long chat…_

…

I just can’t believe it! Padre, my kind and gentle padre, is the Tenth boss of one of the world’s most powerful mafia families! And not only that, but both Masamune and I are the next in line for the title of Undicesimo! This Reborn guy is supposed to train us into some one worthy of becoming the next boss.

Apparently, there’s also some kind of conflict going on about who the rightful heir should be since we’re twins… Even though I’m the oldest twin, and by right that makes me next in line (or so Reborn says), there are some that believe Masamune is more suited for the position as boss.

Other candidates exist too, apparently, but since we’re the Decimo’s sons, well… In the end it all comes down to what Padre thinks…

Masamune didn’t believe any of it at all and quite frankly, neither did I. But unlike him, I was just too shocked to voice my doubt. Actually, I think Masamune may have been a bit too vocal about it, having been thrown to the floor about twenty times in just the first hour.

But still ‘Vongola’, huh… I’ve heard that name before but I just thought it was clams… Oh! So that’s why Padre wouldn’t tell me what ‘Vongola’ was when I’d asked him that time! Because it was the mafia! Wow, talk about keeping some dark secrets… I wonder what made him change his mind about it…

No. I’d rather not know. I’m just gonna go to bed and pretend today never happened. I place my beloved guitar on its stand, grab my PJs and head for the bathroom for a nice hot bath. I ignore my brothers annoyed shouts and the sound of explosions from the downstairs. He’s just playing one of his videogames… yeah, let’s go with that…

Oh, it’s the front door. Guess Katerina’s finally home.

 **“Wonder what she’s going to do about this Reborn guy?”** Who knows…? Hope it won’t be too big a mess…

**.........**

I jolt up in bed suddenly; my book falls off the edge onto the floor. I must have dozed off while reading, wonder what woke me up?

“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?” Masamune’s screech echoes throughout the house.

Oh. That.

I roll over and check the clock. What the hell! It’s only four in the morning! I still have another three hours to kill before I have to go to school! This is why I hate just dozing, you can never tell if it’s been a few minutes or a couple of hours and it leaves you feeling all tired and groggy afterwards!

With a sigh I pick up my book and attempt to find the page I was on. Only to suddenly have Aigís shove me off the bed. Before I can yell at him, a huge green mallet slams into the bed where my head had been just seconds earlier. My mouth falls open as I let out a silent scream when I saw Reborn hovering over me.

Merda! What the diamine is he doing here!? Wait. When and how did he get in here? The door is still closed… Okay, I am officially freaked out now…

“A mafia boss should be prepared for anything.” Reborn commented as if to answer me. “Get ready for today’s lesson dame Sora.” With that he tosses me some clothes and vanishes downstairs.

“…” It took a few minutes for my brain to catch up to what he said. “Eeeeeeehhhh?”

**“I vote we shut up and just do as he says.”**

**“** …Okay fine, but only because I like my head where it is.” I grumble.

I change into the clothes he gave me (my red, black and white sports uniform) and head downstairs. Once there, I come face to face with a very cranky Masamune (also sporting his tracksuit) and a smirking Reborn.

“Saa, Dame Sora and Bakamune, let’s begin shall we.” He says with a malicious glint in his eye.

…Wait… Bakamune?

 **“Hahaha! I have to remember that one!”** I resist the urge to burst out laughing.

Although, I don’t think he’s gonna take to this new nickname very well…

**………**

“HIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!” My scream cuts through the silence of the early morning in Namimori.

It’s still dark as we run for our lives through the streets with a madman shooting at us, while we’re carrying sacks of flour. I don’t even know where the diamine we are, much less where we’re going! Why the hell are we doing this anyway!?

“Your pace is slacking dame Sora.” The instigator of our torture comments from wherever the diamine he’s hiding and throws a grenade at me.

“Hiiiieeeeee!!!” I dash forward to avoid getting blown up, catching up to Bakamu— uh, I mean _Masamune_.

He’s sweating a lot and breathing really hard. Naturally I am too, but since he does basketball I’d figured he’d have more stamina than me. I’m about ready to collapse though, having had no lunch yesterday and I skipped dinner too. My stomach growls in protest as we continue to run, it feels like it’s caved in on itself…

“Okay. Stop here.” The home tutor from hell commands, and throws a grenade in front of us. Masamune comes skidding to a halt while I jump backwards landing on my arse and nearly dropping the sack of flour.

“W-why… the hell… are we… doing… this?” Masamune pants heavily, leaning on his knees.

I just collapse onto the ground taking in as much air as possible. Seriously, I’m done. All my muscles ache and I simply cannot go on. I refuse move an inch from here!

“Hmm, not the best time and the both of you lack stamina.” Reborn reports as he appears out of thin air towering over us. What’s with that tone of voice? Was he actually timing us or something? More importantly, where the heck are we?

Masamune didn’t like it one bit. “You— just what the f*** is that supposed to mean!?”

For the umpteenth time today he ended up kissing the dirt. “Watch your language, Bakamune.” Reborn smirks as Masamune groans in pain. He really should just give it up… face it we’re stuck with this sadist. “Break time’s over.”

Eeeeehh!? It’s barely been two minutes since we stopped!

“A mafia boss should be able to make the most of his rest time, be it two hours or two minutes.” He countered while cocking his gun.

“What’s with that!?” Masamune shrieks.

…Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little?

Reborn just ignores him, firing a warning shot. “Now if there aren’t any more questions,” he gestures to the stairs to his left. “Start climbing.”

“Whaaaat!?”

**“Stop shrieking already!”**

I roll my eyes and sit up, raising my hand. “Hai! I have a question!”

He narrows his onyx eyes at me, “Yes?”

“You a home tutor as well as a hitman, correct?” I start.

“I am.” He replies in a neutral tone.

“So I was wondering,” I stand up and look him right in the eye. “Should I be calling you ‘Sensei’?”

“Why the hell does it matter!?” Masamune yells with disbelief clear on his face.

**“Seriously!? Of all the things you could ask, you ask that!?”**

“Eeehh? But…” It was really bothering me…

Reborn just chuckles a little, “Do as you like.”

“…Okay then, Reborn-sensei.”

Masamune throws his hands in the air dramatically. “Why me?”

“Now,” Reborn-sensei cocks his gun again. “Hurry up and get climbing.”

“Hiieee!” I scream as he shoots at us again.

Wasting no time I grab my sack of flour (why am I carrying this again?) and dash up the stairs. Dio, these stairs are freaking steep! Argh! Gravity! Why must you forsake me? We’re about a third of the way up when I realise we’re headed for Namimori Shrine. Fantastico…

This place really creeps me out. Not because of the shrine or anything but because of the freaky people that are always there whenever I have to come here. They just stand around, wearing really weird clothes and staring at me with vacant eyes. It’s so freaking disturbing! Plus there’s a really thick mist hanging around this morning!

Sigh… This is going to be a very long day…

**………**

I slump my head on my desk. “…Sleepy…” School has only just started and I’m already exhausted… This sucks…

Reborn-sensei made us run up and down the stairs like ten times over! And then we had to lug those damn flour sacks all the way home! My muscles feel like they’re on fire and my throat is so dry and hot even after I drank a whole jug of juice! Breakfast was really awkward too…

Katerina was furiously cooking another feast again, glaring at Reborn-sensei the whole time. She seemed to be having some kind of contest with him. Although Sensei didn’t seem to notice; that or he just didn’t care. It reminded me of the time Padre said her cooking was “decent”. She acted as if he had actively insulted her…

But he _had_ grown up eating Nonna’s delicious cooking (food fit for the gods!). It was expected that everything else would taste just “decent” compared to her food. Katerina took it personally though, and the next time he came home she was cooking like this with a crazed look in her eyes. “I’ll make him say it’s delicious!” is what she kept muttering.

Well anyway, at least I had a nice big breakfast. Even if the very thought of food made me feel sick, I still managed to swallow most of it. Except Sensei kept stealing the food off my plate! There’s an entire feast in front of him, why the diamine is he stealing from me! He stole from Masamune too. He didn’t take it very well…

Apparently, a Mafia boss should always be on guard, whether it be having a meeting with an enemy family or eating his breakfast…

I made a note to stay on guard during meal times.

To top it all off Masamune got into the shower before me so I had to wait for him to finish preening before I could have mine. Seriously he takes _forever_ to take a shower. He’s just like a girl; standing in front of the mirror for ages just doing his hair! It’s just freaking _hair_ , get over it already!

In the end I was late for school. But on the plus side, Kai seemed rather sympathetic to my plight today and just let me go to class without being bitten to death. I think the fact I looked like shit must have had something to do with it…

Well… If I’m being perfectly honest, Masamune taking forever in the shower wasn’t the only reason I was late…

Half way to school (I missed the buss and had to walk) I could have sworn I saw Masamune rush past me in nothing but his boxers shouting at the top of his lungs “CONFESS TO SASAGAWA EMI WITH MY DYING WILL!!!”

“…” I just stood there in shock for a good ten minutes before I reasoned that it couldn’t possibly have been my super popular younger brother (who greatly cares about his image) that ran past me in just their underwear.

As much as Aigís believed it would have been hilarious if it was true (which it would be), there was just no freaking way it was him. I must be so damn tired that I’m starting to hallucinate. It was a mirage; I didn’t see my brother running around in his boxers crying “Emi-chan!”

I have plausible deniability.

**“Sometimes, I’m amazed at your ability to deny reality.”**

“…”

I hope Sasagawa Emi isn’t currently being attacked by some stalker. Although if she was it wouldn’t surprise me, she’s pretty much the idol of our school. Everybody says she’s gorgeous; long light brown hair, pale skin, a delicate figure and she always has a smile on her face. There are some guys that would sell their souls just to get a chance to talk to her.

I’m not one of them.

I mean come one, she’s on the top of the social spectrum, whereas I’m on the bottom. There’s no way in hell she’ll ever talk to me. I’ll bet she doesn’t even know I exist. Not that I really care. Her carefree smile and sparkly aura reminds me too much of my annoying grade school teacher, Sasagawa Kyoko-sensei. (Dio, the woman just wouldn’t leave me alone!)

They have the same last name too, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re related somehow.

I’m brought out of my daydreaming when a hush falls over the classroom as Kai returns from punishing latecomers. It’s great that he and I are in the same class this year. We sit right at the back next to the windows, my desk in front of his. No one dares to sit in the spaces around us for fear of getting bitten to death for crowding Kai.

Now that everything’s quiet the teacher takes the opportunity to finally start the class.

“Today we have a transfer student, all the way from France!” An excited murmur ripples over the students (once again, too scared to make much noise). “Hai, you may come in now!” She calls to the door.

Transfer students don’t really interest me, all it means is there’s someone new to bully me, so I don’t really pay attention to them as they quietly enter the room. Instead I just stare out the window and watch a few stray clouds float past. The class seemed pretty excited though, the boys in particular…

I turn back to the front when I feel someone’s eyes on me. The new girl is staring at me with a small smile on her face! What the hell?

She then walks right up to my desk (causing Kai to let out a low growl) and says, “See? I just knew we’d meet again _Pue de Ciel-kun_.” She giggles and smiles brightly at me, ignoring the gasps of surprise and disbelief from around the class.

Oh, crap! She clearly knows me, but I haven’t got a clue who the diamine she is! Okay calm down, think Cielo think! You must have met her somewhere!

Let’s see, peach blonde hair tied in a side ponytail, soft pink eyes, pale skin and um… er… OH! I recognise that string of indigo beads hanging from her pocket! It’s that weird girl from that time at the underground shopping centre! What was her name again?

“Ah! Yeah… um… So you did… uh… Su… Sumi-chan…?” Dio, I hope that’s her name…

She just blinks at me. Merda did I get it wrong? But then she smiles brightly again and nods “Ehehehe. Hai, Cielo-kun!” With that she sits down in the empty seat diagonally in front of me.

I can feel a lot of jealous glares from around the room and some of the girls are whispering amongst themselves. Kai gives a slight cough which automatically silences them and the teacher begins the lesson that I will proceed to ignore.

I slump my head on my desk wanting nothing more than to find a hole to crawl into and hide. This is going to be a really, really long day…


	4. The Strange Bullet Project

Merda, I hate maths… After spending about fifteen minutes staring at the squiggles on the board and trying to understand what the teacher was saying, I just gave up and stared out the window. No matter how hard I try it all just looks like gibberish to me…

I wonder if Reborn-sensei will actually be tutoring us rather than just using us as punching bags. I still ache all over from this morning’s “lesson”. Though, even if he does help with my studies I seriously doubt I’ll be able actually learn anything. Pretty much every teacher I’ve ever had gave up on me.

Kai tutors me most the time but, I guess even a genius like him can’t help me… At least he takes the time to attempt to help me, which I’m very grateful for. I’m able to scrape a pass on important tests thanks to him.

Speaking of Kai, he doesn’t seem to be in a very good mood right now…

Glancing back at him I can see he’s still glaring at the transfer student, Sumi-chan. While this casts a dark cloud over the rest of the class, the girl in question doesn’t appear all that bothered by it at all. Wow, she must have nerves of steel…

I wonder what she did to piss him off anyway. Is it because she came over before? Maybe she’s just sitting too close… But there seems to be something else bothering him as well, since he keeps glancing to the gym with an annoyed expression… I’ll have to ask him later. Luckily it’s almost lunch time. Damn, I’m so tired and hungry…

I stretch as everyone starts to head off to wherever it is they go at lunchtime. I turn to Kai, only to find he’s already half way out the door. He appears to be in attack mode right now… I think I’ll wait ‘til after he’s bitten his victims to death before I talk to him…

For some reason he’s able to sense when and where there’s a disturbance or something going on. I figure he’s got this “there-are-people-that-must-be-bitten-to-death radar” or something like that… I wonder if that’s why he’s so pissed off… As I ponder this over, a shadow looms over my desk.

“Cielo-kun,” My head snaps up at the sound of Sumi-chan’s gentle voice. “Would you like to eat lunch together?”

**“Whoa, I so did not see that coming!”**

Heck neither did I. This has to be the first time someone’s asked me to spent lunch together with them. Of course, all I managed to say was an unintelligent “Eh?” before the rest of the class started objecting loudly (feeling brave now that Kai had left the room).

“Kasumi-san, don’t bother with Dame Sora.” said the girl with two long plaits.

“Yeah! You don’t want to be seen with a loser like him!” a guy with gelled up hair snickered.

“You better not get too close to _that_ anyway!” It was eyebrow girl’s turn now, she spat out the word “that” rather disgustedly sending me a glare. “He’s cursed!”

“That’s right! You don’t want the demon to curse you too!” cried a frightened boy.

I rolled my eyes as the terrified murmurs began circulating around the room. Do they seriously believe in such childish things like curses in this day and age?

“C-come and have lunch with us instead!” The girl Kai threatened to bite to death for her (obviously dyed) pink hair came up beside the bewildered Sumi-chan. “You’re from France right? What’s it like over there?”

I gather up my remaining books as they start swarming over her, and head out to lunch; making sure to take my bag with me to keep it from ending up in a tree or getting torn up. I glance back at Sumi-chan as I head out the door. I bet that by tomorrow she’ll want nothing to do with me. I shake my head and continue on my way, ignoring the dull pang in my chest.

I start towards the roof, but stop suddenly and instead head off in the opposite direction. The strange tingly feeling in my gut is telling me to go to the gym. I wonder why?

 **“I have a bad feeling about this…”** Me too…

**.........**

I was halfway to the gym when a group of guys past by me gossiping excitedly amongst themselves. Normally I wouldn’t even acknowledge this at all, but then I overheard them say my brother’s name. Merda, what has he done now?

I trail along behind them listening to the conversation.

“Sawada did _what_ to Sasagawa Emi!?” screeched blockhead one.

“Bwahahaha! This is a riot! Can you believe _that_ Sawada Masamune would humiliate himself like that!?” Blockhead two spat out between fits of laughter.

“There’s no way that’s true!” Well, what-do-you-know it’s Baldy, Masamune’s personal lackey.

“It is so! I saw it with my own eyes!” Blockhead three shouted defensively.

“Me too! You should have seen the look on Morita-senpai’s face! It was so scary!” Blockhead number four piped up.

“Wasn’t it? He even challenged Sawada to a duel! I’ll bet they’re at the gym now!” Blockhead the third announced excitedly.

“Seriously? That guy doesn’t stand a chance against the captain of the kendo club!” snorted Blockhead one.

“Hahahaha! Looks like ‘dame-ness’ runs in the family!” Blockhead two laughed again.

“Yeah! Come on, let’s go check it out!” Blockhead one giggled.

Shocked, I came to a halt and watched them run on ahead of me. Oh, Dio… Don’t tell what I saw this morning was actually real? Merda Masamune! What the diamine were you thinking!? Even if you like Sasagawa-san there are other _better_ ways to confess your feelings! And now he’s gotta fight the kendo captain!?

Masamune may be strong and all but he couldn’t win in a fair fight against an experienced fighter! Though I highly doubt that guy will play fair… and knowing Masamune he’ll have some kind of trick up his sleeve too. Ugh, why do I get the feeling that I’m the one who’s going to end up dealing with this?

I should do something about this before it gets out of hand… But what can I do? What can anyone do about it? Even Kai wouldn’t be able to stop the fight from happening; sure he could stop it today but then they’d just go somewhere else after school. Sigh, a loser like me doesn’t stand a chance… Guess I’ll just call it a day and go home.

“A mafia boss should never give up so easily.”

“Hiiiieeeee!!!” For the second time today Reborn-sensei’s sudden appearance scares me shitless. Seriously, why does he keep doing that!? Wait a minute… is he even _allowed_ to be on school grounds?

“Of course, I am a ‘sensei’ after all.” Came the smooth reply.

“Stop reading my mind!” Seriously, it’s starting to freak me out… besides that doesn’t make any sense. He acts like he’s above the law or something…

“That’s because I am.”

Le face palms.

**“Now there’s a comeback that you just can’t reply to.”**

This guy is just so— Oh screw it. I give up. Moving on, “So…? What are you here for anyway?”

“I’m seeing whether or not you’re acting like a mafia boss.” He lowered his fedora so it shaded his eyes. “It’s a quite the chore when looking after two students.”

“Eeeeh!? I don’t want to be a mafia boss!” Who would want to be part of something as dangerous and scary as the mafia!? “I’m just ‘no good’ anyway, so don’t bother with me!”

“Hmph, ‘no good’ is it?” He smirked with a knowing glint in his eye… What’s with that? “So you’re running away from everything like the ‘no good’ coward you are?”

“Hai, hai… that’s right. I’m useless scaredy cat ‘dame’ Sora who can’t do anything right.” my voice dripping with sarcasm.

He chuckles a little, “So? What are you going to do about your baka brother, dame Sora?”

“Haah? Yeah right, like I can do anything!” I scoffed, but the demon tutor just smirked again.

“Staying true to your ‘dame’ nature are we? You really are quite useless.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, I believe we’ve already established that fact.”

“So you’re going to run away?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.

“No one’s ever gonna listen to a loser like me anyways, so why bother trying?” I turn away from him making to leave, believing the conversation (if you can call it that) to be over. But then I heard the familiar sound of a gun cocking. Surprised (and a bit curious) I turn back to him.

“It’s finally your turn.” I don’t like the happy look in those obsidian orbs… “I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction.” R-reaction…? Of what? “Go die now.”

“WHAAAAT!?” Was all I managed to say before a gunshot split the air.

**………**

Fear is a very strange emotion (in my opinion anyway). It’s also one of the most common and normal emotions you can feel.

Every one fears something. Masamune has many fears and phobias; arachnophobia (fear of spiders), allodoxaphobia (fear of opinions. Or so I believe he has), keraunophobia (fear of thunder and lightning), and I’m sure there are many more… I do believe being seen running around in only his underwear is also one of his fears.

It’s natural to fear something that could harm you. Generally people are afraid things like heights, the dark, fire, sharp objects (like knives), being hit by a car/train/truck/whatever vehicle and of course guns.

I am not afraid of most of these things. Why? Well, when you have an invisible and powerful friend (who is rather overprotective, I might add) constantly beside you, you tend to feel pretty safe around dangerous things.

I’m not afraid of heights (in fact I really like high places) because I know that even if I fall Aigís will always catch me. I don’t think I was ever afraid of fire, perhaps I had always known about that other ‘unique’ ability I had within me. I knew that Aigís would save me that time I nearly got crushed by that truck. I wasn’t afraid of the truck per say, more that Kai’s sister, Tsubaki, was there too.

Only an idiot would swing around sharp objects like knives; I knew what I was doing and Aigís would never let them hurt me, so I was never scared of handling knives. Guns are useless against Aigís. I tested it once before with one of Uncle Gokudera’s guns, he stopped the bullet from hitting the wall almost instantly.

The dark… I used to be afraid of the dark, or rather the creatures that lurked in the dark. They used to haunt me and they’d hurt me whenever I was left alone at night. Everyone just told me monsters weren’t real and it was just a nightmare, but nightmares don’t drag you around the room and claw at you, snapping their fangs into your flesh!

It’s okay now though. Aigís stopped being scared of them and he’s much stronger than they are now. He protects me from the things in the dark, so I don’t have to be afraid should they ever appear again.

Even though I knew I would be safe no matter what, Padre didn’t seem to understand. He was always nagging me and he never let me do anything fun!

It was always: “Cielo! Don’t swing on the chandelier!” or “Cielo! Don’t climb up the bookshelves!” or “Cielo! Don’t set fire to the guard dogs!” or “Cielo! Put the knives back in the kitchen!” or “Cielo! Don’t play with the suits of armour!” or “Cielo! Don’t stick things into the power socket!”

…Okay, I’ll admit he was right about the power socket. Children! You must never _ever_ stick your finger or anything in a power socket! IT F****** STINGS LIKE HELL! (Plus it makes you feel all tingly for hours afterwards…) But in my defence, when an adult tells a kid not to do something, it just makes you want to do it more… let’s just say lesson learned…

If I had to pick something that I’m actually scared of, it would probably other living human beings (and their dogs…). Humans can hurt others without ever physically touching them. When you think about it, we’re probably one of the most destructive and hateful creatures on the planet. Yay, for humanity…

Aigís could protect me from my bullies and anyone else that tries to hurt me, but well… In order to even touch another living thing Aigís needs me to help him, and I just can’t do it anymore. I already learnt a long time ago that sometimes it hurts more to harm others than it does when you’re harmed.

Anyway the point is I’m not really afraid of dangerous things like normal people are. (The shock factor of things blowing up around you, or simply being shot at is enough to make anyone want to runaway though.) So when Reborn-sensei pulls out his gun and takes aim at me I was 100% sure I would not die; I had Aigís after all.

Of course the fact he was shooting at me at all had left me rather dumbfounded so I just stood there gaping like an idiot when the bullet came flying towards me. I was even more shocked when it not only bypassed Aigís’s barrier, but it also hit me dead on in the forehead.

I toppled backwards to the floor. There was a searing hot sensation where the bullet hit me. And then… and… umm…

“…”

Nothing happened… I sat up.

“Hm?” Reborn-sensei raised an eyebrow.

Tentatively I raised my hand to my forehead, expecting there to a wound, but there was nothing. Other than just feeling really hot, there was no blood, no wound, nothing! What gives!?

I raise my eyes questioningly to sensei’s blank ones. For a few seconds we just stare silently at one another, before he raises his gun again, “Just to make sure.”

“Hiiieee! Wait a second here—” BANG! He shoots me again! Once again Aigís can’t stop the bullet and I’m sent back to the ground…

…and once again, nothing happened! Seriously what gives! I was definitely shot right!? Other than a little heat, I don’t feel any different (or dead) at all!

Sitting up again I stare quizzically at Sensei’s face “U-umm…?”

A malicious smirk is plastered on his face, “An interesting reaction indeed.” He chuckles darkly.

Holy shit! I seriously can’t tell if he’s incredibly happy, or thoroughly pissed off! So scary! This is definitely something to be scared of!

Another gunshot sounds and a bullet flies past my cheek. “Hiieee!?” What the hell!?

“Dame Sora. A real man never runs away from his problems.” He tilts his fedora over his eyes again. “Whether your ‘useless’ or ‘no good’ is of no consequence, as your home tutor I’ll make you into a proper man. A true artist can create a masterpiece with any tool and material after all.”

…Somehow… this guy… said something really cool just now…

“So…” I flinch at the sound of the cocking gun. “Hurry up and get moving already!”

“HIIIIEEEEEEE!” I dash down the hall avoiding the spray of bullets. I take back what I said about him being cool; he’s just too damn scary!

**………**

In the end, I came to see Masamune’s fight… Reborn-sensei was right about one thing; even if I’m ‘dame’ I’m not powerless. Even I have things that only I can do. Besides… no one wants to be a loser all the time…

The gym was quite packed. The majority of Masamune’s followers are here, as well as the whole kendo cub by the looks of it. There’s a bunch of other random people here too. Why does everyone get so excited about seeing a fight? I wonder where Kai is observing this from. He must be somewhere nearby…

As I sneak along the wall I spot Sasagawa Emi standing off to the side with Morita-senpai mooning over her. She looks rather disgusted but her friends look pretty happy; all starry eyed and blushing madly.

**“You’d think he was flirting with them instead of Sasagawa.”**

With a snort I head up to the second floor so I can actually see what’s going on. Doesn’t look like Masamune is here yet; I hope he’s smart enough not to come… Oh… no… there he is…

You dumbass… Do you honestly think you can win!?

He and Morita-senpai stand in the centre of the gym with the huge crowd circled around them. Senpai appears to be boasting as he explained the rules; wow, what a cazzo. As usual, Masamune’s acting was impeccable; he looked confident and unfazed by Morita’s obvious skill as kendo captain. However, I could see the fear in his eyes and the way his knees shook.

Geez, if you’re so scared then why the diamine did you come?

“…The insect is making a scene…” Kai stated as he magically appeared beside me.

“Ahaha…” I sweat drop at Masamune’s nickname. He had demoted Masamune from being an ‘herbivore’ to an ‘insect’ over the past couple of years. “Yes, well… It could be worse, right?”

“Hn.” He narrows his eyes but remains where he is.

With a sigh I lean on the railing. Kai isn’t one to interfere in a legitimate (if you can call it that) fight. Yep, he’s only here to break up the crowd after it ends, and to keep a riot from starting… Looks like I’ll have to be the one to save Masamune from public humiliation… Fantastico…

The two of them are well within Aigís’s range so if worse comes to worst I can always get him to protect Masamune from being utterly pulverised… He doesn’t exactly like the idea of helping him though…

“Prepare yourself, Sawada!”

Crap they’ve started!

Masamune manages to block Morita-senpai’s swing, but his hold on the bamboo sword is awkward and his stance is unbalanced. He’s definitely going to lose… Suddenly, I hear the familiar sound of a cocked gun and begin to glance around anxiously in search of the source.

I spot the oh-so-familiar black fedora by the window on the opposite side to where I’m standing. Merda! He’s taking aim at Masamune this time! How is it that no one else notice the gunshot!? Utterly helpless I just watch frozen in horror as the bullet flies through the air towards him.

AHHHH! IT HIT HIM!!!

HE’S FALLING!!!!

HE’S GETTING BACK UP!!!???

HIS CLOTHES ARE GONE!!!!!!!

 **“At least he still has his underwear.”** THIS ISN’T THE TIME FOR JOKES!!!

Wait… on his forehead… is that… a flame?

I don’t have time to contemplate this as Masamune begins to fight back rather ferociously against Morita-senpai. Wow, look at him go! He’s amazing! But he’s ridiculous! He’s amazingly ridiculous! Just what the diamine is going on!?

Somehow he won. It was totally one-sided on his part. I still can’t believe it.

There isn’t time to celebrate as the rest of the kendo team start to close in on him. The flame on his forehead has fizzled out and he no longer has that crazed look in his eyes. I don’t think he can fight back anymore…

“Herbivores,” The sound of Kai’s voice causes the whole room to stop dead. “You are crowding.”

That was all the warning they needed (and all they were gonna get from Kai) as they began to stampede out of the gym, leaving us, Masamune, a few of his followers and Sasagawa-san too. Masamune looked rather bewildered as his friends came up to congratulate him. But you’re still half naked there…

“Dame Sora.” My head snapped up just in time to see the bundle of clothes being thrown at me. Clumsily I managed to catch them. “I believe your brother needs these.”

“R-reborn-sensei! Just then what did you—” Bang! “Hiiieee!”

“Don’t dawdle.”

“H-hai!” I stammer and start to back away.

“Who are you?” Kai demanded eyeing sensei dangerously with his whip out.

“Chaos, Hibari Kai.” Sensei greeted smoothly. “I am Reborn.”

“H-he’s the home tutor… from yesterday…” I explain.

Kai tilts his head in understanding “Hn…” He seems pretty interested in Reborn-sensei. There’s a strange tension between them, and feeling my life may be in danger if I remain here I flee down the stairs.

As I pass Masamune’s group I shove the bundle of clothes in his arms (which he grudgingly accepts) and then run back to class. Sigh, lunch is nearly over and I haven’t eaten anything yet… I guess I just try to wolf down as much as possible before the teacher arrives…

I’ll definitely have to ask Reborn-sensei about that bullet when I get home. If it was the same one as what he tried to shoot me with then, why didn’t it work? Not that the idea of being stripped to my boxers appeals to me in the slightest, but the flame on Masamune’s forehead… What is it exactly?

Does this mean I’m not the only one with the ability to produce fire out of nothing? Argh, my head hurts from all this heavy thinking! Let’s just focus on class for now and return to that when I get home…


	5. The Frightening Fair Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started writing this, I was inspired by the game "Beyond: Two Souls". This particular chapter is quite a bit of influenced by the game. (Honestly though, I can't actually remember where some of these little plots came from or what I was thinking at the time I wrote them...)

At first, Azusa didn’t have much luck in locating her target. She hadn’t been able to find any clues nor could she find anyone that matched the profile of that brat! In fact, it took three days before she had even been able to someone that knew of the target. Her skills must be getting rusty from not being used for over a year…

But no matter, she now has a general idea of where to find the target. It won’t take long before she’ll track that scruffy looking girl down and put an end to her miserable existence!

…And yet…

WHY CAN’T SHE FIND THAT GODDAMN CAGNA ANYWHERE!?

It’s been another two days ending with another fruitless search! Why isn’t the brat where she’s supposed to be!? She’d been checking the roof every free chance she got and that damn girl hadn’t shown up once! Not to mention she very nearly got bitten to death by the infamous Hibari Kai! The son of the Vongola Cloud guardian to boot!

Though she’d never actually met any other of the Vongola guardians, she knows a lot about them. She greatly admires the Vongola guardians and it has always been a secret dream of hers to inherit her father’s position as Storm guardian and right-hand to the Vongola boss! Not that she’d ever let him know that…

Though rather than working for the next boss she’d prefer to work with the current one. She can’t help but feel her heart skip a beat when she thinks of her beloved Decimo-sama! He was so kind, gentle, handsome, noble, strong, honest, and selfless; the list goes on and on…

When she was small, she used to peek into her father’s study whenever he had a meeting, just to get a short look at that wonderful man. “Decimo-sama…” She murmured to herself, all dreamy eyed, as she sat daydreaming in class.

 _Ah! Focus Azusa!_ She shook her head and lightly slapped her cheeks. She can’t forget her current mission! “Azusa-chan, are you okay?” Her friend (who sat next to her) asked worriedly. “Do you need to go lie down in the nurses’ office?”

Shoot she’d been daydreaming to long. “Ah, no I’m—” Wait, that’s it! The nurse has the medical files of every student at this school! She’s bound to find that girl’s file in there somewhere! “Actually, I am feeling a little feverish…”

With that excuse she made her way down to the nurses’ office in high spirits; today she’d finally get her target! Make no mistake about it! Stopping in front of the door she took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she slowly opened the door, pretending to look sick. “Excuse me.”

What she saw then left her dumbfounded

There, sitting shirtless in the middle of the room was her target! Said person merely turned around slowly in acknowledgement to Azusa’s presence. O.M.G! She has really small breasts… No… IT’S AN EFFING GUY!? All she could do was stare, soaking in her— no, _his_ appearance.

He had long flowing chestnut brown hair, highlighted with beautiful streaks of gold (it looked soft to touch too). His skin was (minus all the cuts and bruises) a stunning olive tan and looked so silky smooth, the type most girls would kill to have. And that eye! A gorgeous aquamarine, with luscious long eyelashes that fluttered over his cheek as he blinked.

She was sucked into the gaze of that one enthralling eye, as if it was pulling her in. She’d never seen such a pure and clear gaze before! And yet… at the same time she saw nothing in that eye. As if it held no emotion whatsoever. And this frightened her.

She ran.

Well, not before knocking the boy to the floor. But she, Gokudera Azusa a trained hitman, had run away from her target! The shame of it all! She ran all the way home, not bothering to answer the calls of her worried maid.

She didn’t care that she had skipped school or that her father had called wanting to talk. She didn’t have time to listen to his fretting or whatever it is he wanted to tell her! She needed to cool down, rest and prepare herself for the next encounter with that (admittedly) beautiful yet strange boy.

Yes, next time she wouldn’t run! She was going to end him for sure in their next encounter! Make no mistake about it!

**………**

It’s been a really, really, _really_ long week…

Seriously, for the past five days Reborn-sensei has been forcing us to run around Namimori at ungodly hours of the morning every freaking day! And what kind of tutor blows up his student when they get the questions wrong!? I’m beginning to fear for my life a little bit here… it’s gotten to the point where I’m actually scared to study…

Well, one tends to lose their motivation when told to forget everything they’ve learned up until now because its all completely useless information or something… apparently I have to start over from scratch. Hurray for me… but then again, if my grades actually improve it might be a good thing… probably…

With a sigh I slide off my bed and reach for my guitar. I’m so glad it’s finally Sunday. At least, we don’t have to run in the morning anymore (I have the felling he just made us run because he felt like it…) so I decided to interpret it as a day off; which I really need right now. Especially after everything that’s happened with Masamune and at school…

So, apparently, the flame that appeared on Masamune’s forehead is called a “Shinuki no Honoo” (or dying will flame) and it’s something like the symbol of the Vongola Famiglia. The bullet Reborn-sensei used is called a Dying Will bullet and it’s a special type of bullet created by the Vongola.

But then it brings up the question of why it didn’t work on me. All Reborn-sensei said was: “Who knows.” but I get the feeling he knows more than he lets on… doesn’t look like I’m going to get anything out of him though, so I just let it drop. It’s probably got something to do with the fact I can already produce this dying will flame on my own.

That reminds me; Kai said he would be busy today so we can’t hang out at the abandoned lot. Guess that’s one less training (read ‘torturing’) session to worry about. Sensei went with Masamune to basketball practice today (he appears to be splitting up his time between the two of us at random) so I guess I’m on my own today.

I snort as I think of the way every one’s attitude has changed towards Masamune since his fight with Morita-senpai. Some people seem pretty freaked out by him, while others seem to completely adore him, particularly Sasagawa-san. He must have really impressed her that day because they are, apparently, dating now.

Well, good for him. Not that I really give a damn, it’s just that Sensei is forcing us to walk to school together because “that’s how a family should be”, so I’ve started to notice all the changes around him. Aside from being incredibly tired and that Kai seems to have taken a liking to Sensei (by ‘liking’ I mean he really wants to fight him) nothing’s really been all that different in my school life.

Then again there is that transfer student, Allaire Kasumi (or Sumi-chan). She is actually still talking to me, even when everyone told her not to! It feels so weird having someone who says things like “good morning” and “see you tomorrow” to you every day. It’s not a bad feeling though…

Well I guess that’s not the only weird thing that’s happened to me this week. I was with Sawa-chan yesterday, while I was getting the burns on my back checked (courtesy of Sensei’s morning bombings), and this strange chick showed up. She was staring at me like she was in shock, for ages.

Then she started shaking and muttering some kind of gibberish under her breath. I’ll be honest here; she looked like a cat with its fur standing all on end, like it had just had the scare of its life. When I asked if she was okay, all I got from her was: “a boy…” and then she threw me to the floor with a drop kick flashing her panties as she did so.

It was then that I remembered her from the day Sensei showed up; it was the silver haired, green eyed, super strong chick that flashed her panties last time! Wow, small world. Seriously though, get some damn shorts already! I really didn’t need to see your frilly pink underwear thank you very much! Geez, what a cagna!

Suddenly one of the strings on my guitar snaps and smacks my hand. “Merda!” Owowow! That really stings!

**“Hehe. You okay?”**

I blow on my stinging hand a little, “yeah… it’s fine…” My guitar’s the one with the broken string. Well, the strings needed to be replaced soon any way. Placing it back on its stand I rummage through the case in search of some spare strings (Kai had taught me how to change them myself).

Oh, that’s right, I forgot I was gonna go to the store yesterday and get some more on my way home. With everything else going on it just slipped my mind. Oh well, I’ll just go now. It’s not like I’m actually doing anything else today anyway.

I slip out of my PJs and throw on some faded blue jeans and an orange and white long sleeve shirt. It’s a little after ten in the morning, so maybe I’ll stay out for lunch too. I kinda don’t want to be alone with Katerina today; even though she finally calmed down she’s still acting like a weirdo. But then, she’s always been a bit “eccentric” I suppose.

Grabbing my wallet I head down stairs, trying (and failing) not to trip. I rub my aching chin as I sit down to put on my shoes. It’s pretty quiet around here though… wonder where my _dearest_ auntie is?

**………**

Someone please tell me how the diamine I ended up here… Heck, I don’t even know where _here_ is!

It looks like some kind of convention hall, so it must be some kind of fair or something. There are all kinds of stalls and shops set up selling who-knows-what, there are a few little live shows too and it’s so damn noisy with all these people shouting over one another plus the (horrible) music screeching over the top of everything!

To make matters worse, every single damn shop within a ten mile radius seems to be having a spring sale! Watching all these women elbowing and clawing at each other over some skirt was rather shocking. I have to say, women are terrifying! And I’d say that pretty much every man that’s forced to be here with their wife/girlfriend/fiancée/whatever agrees with me.

There are a lot of meek and timid looking men here; makes me think that the “man of the house” is actually a woman in most cases…They should really change these old-fashioned sayings. They’re seriously out of date in this day and age.

“Cielo, isn’t this dress just the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen!?” Katerina whips the changing room’s curtain aside dramatically revealing a whole lot of bright pink lace, frills, glitter and sequins all stitched together into something that resembles a dress.

“Uh… yeah…” I mutter trying not to gag.

 **“Excuse me while I go throw up.”** I think I need to as well…

“Isn’t it just!? It fits perfectly and it’s half off too!” she squeals happily.

“It’s a match made in heaven, darling!” I turn towards the sound of the new voice and immediately regret it. Firstly, the dress she’s wearing is the colour of unicorn vomit. Secondly, there’s a wriggling fluff ball in her handbag that is glaring and growling menacingly at me. And do you know that you have a bloody _peacock_ on your head?

“Mrs Inukawa! What a pleasant surprise!” You mean incredibly _unpleasant_.

Okay, you know how pretty much every town’s got a crazy cat lady? Well, we don’t. Instead we’ve got a crazy dog lady (guess who it is) and she just so happens to live down the street to us. Not only that, but she’s also part of Katerina’s crocheting club (why she’s even part of that club is beyond me) so the two of them are good friends...

“That hat is just divine! You must tell me where you got it!” The two start chatting away in a language that is foreign to me. I think it must be some kind of code women use when they go shopping.

Why? Just how in Dio’s name did I end up here?

**………**

I was just walking to the music store when I ran into the first crowd of rabid females tearing apart a clothing store. While I was dodging the crowd and avoiding the high heeled shoes that were being thrown as weapons (a new take on the term ‘killer heels’) I slammed straight into some poor guy carrying two big boxes.

Given that I was the one who knocked him down it was only natural that I had to help him gather up the contents of the boxes that was now scattered across the sidewalk. It looks like a bunch of robot parts or something, plus an old CD player and stacks of CDs to go with it. “T-th-thank you.” He stuttered as we gathered them up.

I just nodded silently.

This guy’s fairly plain looking, with messy light grey hair (that looks like he’s never brushed it) and dull mustard yellow eyes. The thing that really stands out about him is the way he dresses; he’s got a pair of goggles sitting on his head, a plain white long sleeve shirt and denim overalls with the top half undone and sitting loosely over his hips. 

I turn my attention to the CDs in my hands. Wow, he got quite the collection here, even Kai doesn’t have this many! There’re some pretty rare copies here too! I wonder where he got them from…

I spot some kind of relatively human-shaped robot off to the side about to be crushed by the crowd of stampeding women! The boy lets out a choked noise when he spots it. Guess it must be important to him them… Aigís flings it over to me before the flock of heels can smash it into dust.

“Here.” I wave it in front of the boy’s face, his eyes are impossibly wide and his jaw is practically hitting the floor. I should probably get out of here before he comes to his senses.

Some one’s phone goes off nearby and the robot suddenly starts moving around on its own!

“Holy—” I jump and drop it, luckily the boy snaps out of his stupor and manages to catch it.

 **“THE ROBOT MOVED ON ITS OWN!!!”** IT’S ALIVE!!!

It stopped moving and the boy held it up, “C-cool, right? I-it moves to the s-sound of m-music.” He stammered blushing lightly. “Look.” He placed it on the floor brought his iPod. It started to swing its arms and legs around as he played a song.

Oh, so that’s what it was. “Wow, that’s awesome!” It looks a little stiff as it moves though.

“Isn’t it? It’s meant to move differently to the different types of sounds,” He stopped the music and picked it up. “But it’s not finished yet.”

“You made this?” He nods slightly, his face a bright red. Wow, he’s really talented.

“Ah! I’m Oshima Takumi by the way.” He says as he picks up the boxes.

“Sawada Cielo, but just ‘Sora’ is fine.” I take one of the boxes for him and he smiles gratefully at me.

We chat as we walk, mostly about music and the robot (although I don’t understand most of the technical mumbo-jumbo). Turns out Takumi-kun and the rest of his school’s robotics club is entering his robot in a science fair. He says I can go see it if want and gave me a flyer for it. I hope he wins, this robot is really cool!

Finally we reach his uncle’s place (a family run tech shop) and we can put the boxes down. “Sorry for making you carry it all this way.” Takumi-kun scratches his cheek sheepishly.

“Ah, its fine.” I wave my hand dismissively.

He opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by a shrill “CEILO!!!” I cringe at the high pitch tone that is disturbingly familiar to me…

“A-auntie!?” What the diamine is she doing here!? And she got my name wrong! I don’t get the chance to say anything else because I’m suddenly being dragged down the street by the collar of my shirt.

“Come! There’s no time to lose!” She declares as she drags me Dio-knows-where.

We left Takumi-kun to stare completely dumfounded after us, “Eeeeehhh!?”

**………**

… Maybe she just wanted someone to carry her bags or something…

I turn back to Katerina to find her talking to a huge group of ladies all wearing brightly coloured and frilly dresses. Merda, they’ve multiplied! What exactly happened when I wasn’t looking!?

Looks like they’re fawning over some new dress now… I take a peek at it. What the diamine is that? That has to be the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen!

It’s a gaudy blue Victorian style (from the looks of it) with puffy sleeves, a whole heap of white lace and white ribbons stitched all over it. It’s even got a matching floppy hat, gloves and I bet it’s even got to be worn with a corset or something... I can’t believe women used to wear this crap back in those days, poor things…

“Wouldn’t she look just gorgeous in this?” One lady squealed.

“Just like a doll!” another answered.

“It’s perfect!” Katerina looks ecstatic. I feel sorry for the poor soul who’ll be forced to wear that _thing_. “Ceilo~ sweetie~! Come here and try on this darling little dress for your auntie!”

 **“WHAAAAT!?”** ME!? And she got my name wrong again!

“Wait a minute here! I can’t wear that!” I shriek.

“Nonsense dearie, you’ll look lovely in it.” No I won’t! And that’s beside the point! “If you’re worried about your flat chest it fine, this type of dress hides it!” ARGH! What’s wrong with you!? “That reminds me, it’s about time we bought you some proper bras and some more _feminine_ clothes too.” She looks me over wrinkling her nose in distaste.

“What the hell woman! I’M NOT A FREAKING GIRL!” This is why I never want to go shopping with you! This kind of crap happens every freaking time!

“She really ought to dress more appropriately.” My clothes suit a _boy_ just fine, thank you!

“Yes I keep telling her, but she never listens.” That’s because _she_ is a _he_!

“I know a fabulous little boutique with the cutest little skirts and dresses you’ve ever seen!” I don’t ever want to see them!

“LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!” I don’t care how much you wanted a niece! I’m not going to suddenly become a freaking girl!

Ugh, Papa, nobody’s listening to me!

“Enough dilly-dallying, Ceilo, just try it on.” Auntie beamed happily (read ‘evilly’) holding up the vulgar piece of cloth and lace they call a dress.

There is no way in hell I’m wearing that thing!

 **“We could try and run for it?”** We could… but she’d just come after me (that woman can really run when she wants to).

“We’d never make it…” I whisper as I begin to back away slowly. They’re starting to advance on me now all holding up bits of lacy cloth which I won’t even try to identify where they’re supposed to go. Oh, Dio, I hope that’s not what I think it is… I’ve got to think of something, quick!

“N-no… um… I-I er… that is… I um…” The look in their eyes is seriously starting to freak me out! “Wait! Umm, that is to say, I umm...” My eyes dart around frantically in search of something can use as an excuse. They’ve even got a bunch of accessories to go with the darn thing! Accessories…? “That’s it! A parasol! It’s needs a parasol!”

“Ara? A parasol you say? What a splendid idea!” Katerina claps her hands together excitedly.

Wow, I can’t believe it worked… “Um, yeah! I saw this, uh, g-gorgeous little parasol way back there.” I point my thumb behind me. “But I’d better go get it before the, uh, the elf knight can give it to the Fairy Queen!” Okay, now I’m just saying the first damn thing that comes to my mind.

“Really? Then you’d best hurry up and get it then! Good luck!” She smiles and waves me off as I run for dear life away from her and the dressing room of doom.

 **“I cannot believe she bought that crap!”** Yeah, neither can I...

**………**

After running nonstop while dodging through the crowd for about ten minutes I finally decided I was far enough away from my crazy aunt and her troop of equally crazy friends.

There is something very wrong with that woman’s head! Maybe I should call Padre to send in a doctor or something… That reminds me, I haven’t spoken to him in ages. He usually calls at least twice a month and sends emails every week, but I haven’t heard anything from him on over three weeks now… I wonder if it has something to do with Reborn-sensei.

My stomach gives off a loud growl interrupting my thoughts. Man, I’m starving… and my throat’s so dry and hot from all that running. Guess I’ll get something to eat then. I glance around and spot a little café and some tables set up just a few stalls ahead of me. Yeah, an ice-cream sounds really good right now.

I weave my way through the crowd and up to the counter. The cashier chick smiles pleasantly, her eyes sparkling all professional like. I hate fake smiles, but I’m thirsty and hungry so, “…I’ll have a choc mint ice-cream, thanks…”

“I’m sorry we’re sold out of choc mint, how about just chocolate instead?” She beams.

 _“No I want choc mint_!” is what I want to say but I really can’t be bothered right now, “Fine… whatever.” Just give me a damn ice-cream.

“I’m afraid we’re out of chocolate too!” she giggles.

Then why the diamine did you offer it? Damn cagna. “What ice-creams do you have then?”

“We’re all sold out of ice-cream~” The smile never leaves her face.

Why you f— oh screw it. I’m too tired right now. “Then I’ll have a lemonade,” there are some cakes in the display case too. “And a jam donut.”

“We don’t have any more jam donuts or lemonade either~”

“Then what’s that there in front of your face?” I deadpan.

Her face twitches a little, “T-those are for display purposes only!”

I feel the sudden urge to murder some small unsuspecting animal, “…And the lemonades in the fridge behind you?”

“Display purposes only!” I really, really hate fake smiles…

I’m also pretty impatient right now, “Then what do you have?”

“We’re sold out of everything~”

**“You effing cagna!”**

I huff and turn away after sending her one last glare. Some guy wonders up to the counter as I’m walking away. “I’ll have one strawberry and one choc mint ice-cream.” Yeah, good luck with that pal…

“Hai! That’ll be 780 yen!”

What the hell!? I watch furiously as she hands the guy his ice-creams. That little puttana is totally playing favourites here! Where the diamine is my damn ice-cream!?

 **“Hey,”** Aigís floats up next to my shoulder. **“How about we teach her a lesson?”**

“Hmm tempting…” I guess a little prank wouldn’t hurt… besides someone has to take that stuck up chick down off her high horse. “Okay.” A broken coffee machine ought to give her a nice scare, and a good telling off from her boss.

Trying to look casual, I duck around the corner and lean against the wall so as not to attract attention. I close my eyes and concentrate on Aigís. A few months back I’d discovered that if I concentrate hard enough I can see through Aigís’s eyes. Though my vision becomes a little blurry and voices sound muffled the further away he gets from me.

He can’t go more than five metres away from me any way, at least not without it hurting me, so it doesn’t really matter all that much.

_“Okay, let’s go.”_

He makes his way over to the counter and passes straight through the walls so he’s hovering right next to the cagna. She’s chatting away to some of her friends while another poor girl is trying to be served. Oh, yeah, she so deserves this. “ _Let’s give her a scare. Start by moving some stuff around.”_

She didn’t give much of a reaction when the straw dispenser shook, but when he knocked over the foam coffee cups she started to look a tiny bit worried. Then he made the lights flicker and when she moved away from the counter he threw open the drinks fridge door. She yelped and jumped back in fright.

_“Okay, I think she’s scared enough. See if you can’t do something to the coffee machine.”_

**“Roger that~”**

At the time, I should have been paying closer attention to his unnaturally gleeful tone of voice. Maybe then I would’ve been able to stop what happened next…

“KYYYAAAAAA!” the girl shrieked as the coffee machine caught fire. People started running away screaming ‘fire, fire’ which caused a panic.

 _“Whoa! That’s enough, stop!”_ But he wouldn’t listen to me and started to fling burning foam cups over the counter causing an outright riot. _“I said stop!”_

The girl tries to run away but Aigís blocks the door by throwing the fridge against it. She lets out another terrified cry and scrambles into a corner shivering. _“That’s enough! STOP!”_

I forcefully pull myself away from him, staggering as I’m thrown back into my body. Dizzily, I try to race back over to the trapped girl but I keep getting pushed around by the fleeing crowd. Aigis starts flipping burning tables over and smashing the glass of the café windows and display cases. Merda! Why won’t he stop!?

As I push myself off the floor again a hand lands on my shoulder, “Dame Sora, you have to stop now.” demanded the familiar baritone of Reborn-sensei.

About a dozen questions flew through my mind in that instant, like “why are you here?” and “how do you know about _it_?” But before I could stop myself, the words had already flown passed my lips: “I can’t he won’t listen to me!”

“Then it can’t be helped.” Was the last thing I heard when I felt the butt of a gun against the back of my neck, and blacked out.

**………**

I woke with a start, and a killer headache, and found myself seated on a random bench outside the convention hall. Blearily I took in my surroundings; it would appear that the fire department was called and everyone’s been evacuated. With a sigh of relief I spot the cashier chick being treated in a nearby ambulance. It doesn’t look like she’s hurt.

“Dame Sora.” Reborn-sensei is next to me, leaning on the bench. “From now on, you and I shall be having some _special_ tutoring sessions. Understand?”

Not one bit. There is so much I want to ask him right now; about me and about Aigís. I’m sure he knows something about us, but I’m also sure he won’t tell me a single damn thing. So I keep my mouth shut and just nod compliantly.

“Good.” And with that he stands and disappears into the crowd before you can say “ _Ninja!”_

Well, this has been a really horrible experience. I slump back into the seat and stuff my hand into my pockets. “Huh?” there’s something in here… oh! It’s the flyer Takumi-kun gave me. I’d completely forgotten about him!

A tiny smile manages to creep its way onto my face. Okay, I guess today wasn’t so bad…

“CEILO!” Katerina’s high pitched voice makes my aching head throb. I stand corrected…

“There you are! Where have you been?” Avoiding you. “Well, it looks like you’re fine.” Yep, just dandy. “What a mess this has turned into!” You can say that again. “Oh! Did you find the elf knight?” The what!?

Oh… right, the elf knight… “Umm, Yeah! But, uh, Mary Poppins already took the parasol and flew off into the clouds with it!” If there was an award for the dumbest excuse ever made up, I would probably win it.

“Oh, that’s such a shame.” And if there was an award for the most gullible person on earth my dearest auntie here would already have it… “Well there’s always next time! As compensation for today’s events they’re rescheduling the fair for next week~”

“…Really…?” Oh the joy. Note to self: make plans to be far, far away from here next Sunday.


	6. The How to Make Friends Project

I’m beginning to think that Reborn-sensei’s “lessons” are for the sole purpose of torturing his students with ridiculous demands, and equally ridiculous punishments, purely for his own amusement. That man is the most sadistic person I’ve ever met… Like the reincarnation of the devil himself…

The “special” lessons consist of Sensei dragging me up into Namimori Mountains at ridiculous times in the morning or in the late evening. There he would force me through a range of impossible and entirely random tasks, like the other day he threw me into a poisonous snake pit and said: “don’t move a muscle or they’ll attack.”

…He seriously left me standing there terrified to move for over an hour… I was so stiff and sore afterwards. It’s a miracle I survived at all (a miracle called Aigís). That damn sadist…

I nearly jumped out of my seat when I swore I heard his voice in my head saying: “I heard that Dame Sora.” Merda, even when he’s not here he still manages to scare me…

He’s even began to supervise the training sessions that Kai has been forcing me to do. And by “supervise” I mean assist Kai in beating me to a bloody pulp… But at least he knows more about my flame than either of us does. So far I’ve just been coating my fists with it to strengthen my punches and such.

My flame seems to be different from Masamune’s, but maybe that has something to do with the bullet… Sensei calls it “dying will mode” in which all the “safety switches” are turned off. So basically it means it removes all the limiters in your body bringing out its full potential. Or something like that…

But my flames don’t really do anything like that… they’re more like a power source than anything else... I tried different ways of fighting with it, like using it as a kind of rocket to propel myself around the room, but I kept blasting myself into the walls… and floors… and ceilings… And using them like a flamethrower didn’t work out either…

Really the only thing it does that can help in a fight is give Aigís power. But it’s hard to concentrate on both him and Kai at the same time. So that’s also kinda impractical… Sensei says I have no control over my flames, which I find insulting. I’m perfectly capable of controlling my own flames thank you very much!

That thing last week with Aigís is totally different and has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to control my flame! Yeah… nothing at all…

With a sigh I turn my attention to the scribbles on the blackboard and the ramblings of the old man who calls himself our English teacher. He has the kind of monotone voice that is so dull and tiring to listen to it’s so hard to stay awake in his class… pretty much everyone’s already nodding off… Well, minus Kai and Sumi-chan.

That being said, I don’t think either of them is actually paying attention to the class at all…

Kai may look like he’s reading the textbook and taking notes, but he’s actually reading a music magazine. In fact, I’ve never actually seen Kai actually paying attention to any of his classes. Well, he’s a genius who’s memorised every damn textbook in every damn subject. So even if he gets called up to read or answer questions he can continue to read own book or magazine while answering correctly.

Sometimes I wonder why he even bothers coming to class in the first place…

Sumi-chan on the other hand is… uh… she is… umm… actually I have no idea what the diamine it is she’s doing… It looks like she’s playing with a bunch of little jewels or stones. She has seven of them all lined up in a semicircle, each one being a different colour of the rainbow. Except the order she put the colours in is not like a rainbow…

First there’s orange, then purple, then indigo, then red and she keeps swapping around the last three colours. I really want to know what exactly the point is… Oh, looks like she’s changing the pattern now. A spiral with orange in the centre then purple, indigo, red and it looks like she’s finally decided that blue would go next.

As interesting as this is to watch, I can’t help but wonder why the damn teacher lets her do whatever she wants in class but I get yelled just for spacing out. I get why they leave Kai alone, no one wants to face his wrath, but what about her? Probably cause she’s a girl and he’s a sick, perverted bastardo.

It might also be due to the fact that she’s a bit loopy. Not Aunt Katerina type of loopy (she’s just bat-shit crazy) but loopy none the less. That and she’s earned herself the nick name “ice princess”. In the past two and a half weeks since she moved here she’s received over twenty love confessions and rejected all of them (why do people think it’s normal to accept a love confession from some random stranger anyway?).

Oh, and she’s the only person capable of brushing off Kai’s glare. Yep, she’s definitely got nerves of steel. I don’t really know why but she and Kai don’t seem to get along very well...

Normally this wouldn’t bother me because, well, Kai doesn’t usually get along with anyone. But recently I’ve been spending more time with Sumi-chan; we actually have conversations and sometimes have lunch together. Now, I don’t really know much about the whole _friendship_ thing, but I’m pretty sure this is how they’re supposed to start.

At what point we actually become friends I have no idea… I still don’t really know at what point Kai and I became friends… But I think it was during that summer we spent together. I mean, before that we only spoke during the occasional lunch we happen to have together on the roof…

Speaking of which, it’s finally almost lunchtime. Thank Dio; I don’t think I could take much more of that old bastardo’s droning.

**………**

…Merda… the atmosphere here is so intense I can barely taste the food in my mouth…

Okay, so today was one of the random days were Kai and I have lunch together on the roof. The only difference is that Sumi-chan wanted to have lunch together too… Well, it’s not like I would say no to her just because Kai doesn’t like crowds (for him any more than two is a crowd, excluding family). So here I am, on the roof stuck in between a glaring contest.

Seriously, you can see electricity between the two of them! Kai has his usual “I-will-bite-you-to-death” death glare and Sumi-chan has her usual icy gaze and impassive smile. She really does live up to her nick-name… Who would a thought that a small smile like that could be so threatening?

I’m pretty good at reading people’s expressions (a necessary skill when you have the blank faced carnivore as your best friend) but I can’t get a read on Sumi-chan at all. Her is expression is one that neither agrees nor disagrees with anything, like you can’t tell if she’s a weak and delicate little girl or a tough as nails kinda girl.

And she always speaks in riddles and gives really cryptic advice. Like just before she told me to be cautious because there’s rain on my horizon.

…Seriously, what the hell?

I know its summer now and the rainy season will start soon (damn the humidity), but the forecast was clear plus I’m pretty good at predicting the weather. Not that it really matters most the time since umbrellas hate me and either go missing, turn inside out or just fly away while I’m walking…

Well, she’s a really, uh, “spiritual” kind of person. I suppose she must be into fortune telling and that kind of crap. Aigís is all freaked out by her, and keeps saying that she knows he’s there and won’t stop looking at him. I imagine he’s just as uncomfortable as I am right now, but we’re still in the middle of a fight so he’s giving me the silent treatment

Sure we’ve had fights before, it’s only natural when you’re stuck to someone since birth, but this is probably the longest silence yet. A verbal fight would go nowhere since neither of us can storm off when it becomes too much, and a physical fight is impossible between us. So silence it is. We simply ignore each other’s existence until we can’t anymore.

Of course being permanently attached to him means we can’t exactly ignore each other for very long. But one and a half weeks is a long time to go on ignoring one another. I turn my attention away from the small lightning storm in front of me and in favour of seeing what Aigís is doing instead.

He’s just hovering off to the side, facing away from us. I huff and turn away from him. Well he can sulk all he wants. It was his fault; he was the one in the wrong. I am definitely not going to be the one to speak first. Nope, not this time.

 _You’re the one in control_ ; this is the only sound advice that Sensei has given me during our “lessons”. And it is most certainly the truth. It’s my life; I’ll be the one in control of it. As much as he thinks he can Aigís can’t make any decisions for me.

**………**

After school finally ended, I followed Kai around on his patrol as a kind of apology for what happened at lunch. He may act indifferent about it but I know he likes the company. To prevent him from biting Sumi-chan to death, I’d promised him a fight later on, no holding back either.

I really hate fighting but Kai loves it… I think it’s the only way he has to fully express himself.

Even now as I watch him pulverise some third year punks he caught smoking I can clearly see the joyous glint in his eyes. Most people would say that this is very creepy but it doesn’t look that way to me. Well, most people miss the disappointment evident on his face whenever his opponents turn out to be weaklings.

Kai prefers a proper fight with strong opponents. Of course, that won’t stop him from utterly destroying the “weak herbivores” in his way… He’s Hibari Kai after all. No one gets past him.

I hope we don’t run into the Student Council President again. I don’t know how much more irritation Kai can stand today. Though I would like for him and Sumi-chan to get along… they don’t have to like each other, just not want to kill each other whenever they meet would be nice…

As we pass the sports field I notice the (ugh) _baseball_ team starting to pack away their equipment. I shudder at the sight of one of them swinging a bat around carelessly. Frankly baseball terrifies me. I have childhood trauma that involves my happy-go-lucky Uncle and a broken baseball bat. Now I can’t even get within ten metres of anything baseball related.

Thank you very much my dear Uncle Yamamoto…

Shaking my head I increase my pace so I’m closer to Kai as he inspects the grounds. The team members then stop messing around and continue packing up as quickly and quietly as possible. Kai sent a pointed glare towards the team captain (Mizuno Yuki, I believe) who in turn grinned widely and waved at us. He must be an idiot…

But, that happy-go-lucky nature is creepily similar to my uncle’s… Maybe it’s a baseball thing.

I don’t know much about the baseball team (or any sport club for that matter) but Masamune is always complaining about that guy. Really the only reason he doesn’t like Mizuno-sempai is because the guy is incredibly popular. And I don’t like him because he’s in the baseball club.

Well, that and I loathe fake smiles. He’s always grinning like an idiot but, in the few times I’ve come close enough to his proximity to see, the smile never reaches his eyes. Everyone else is fooled somehow though. Looking at him across the field, he seems pretty slim for a guy too.

Like, aren’t guys that do sports supposed to be all buff and stuff? Something about eating heaps because they burn it all of really quickly…? I mean Masamune’s pretty muscular (but not that much) and he eats a ton too, particularly after a game. I’d expected all those sports jocks to be the same.

Oh well. It’s got nothing to do with me.

I have to get home soon, before basketball practice ends preferably. I have to study together with Reborn-sensei and Masamune… Why do we have to do these things together anyway? Oh, right because that’s “how a family should be”… I don’t really get what he’s meant to be teaching us here… if he’s actually trying to teach us anything at all…

**………**

After saying goodbye to Kai I sullenly make my way to my shoe locker.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I get this tingly feeling in my gut. Dio, not again… I pause briefly then spin around, but the culprit is already gone. Damn creepy stalker… Yeah, for the past week or so, this crazy chick (I managed to catch a glimpse of her skirt) has been following me around.

Seriously, why? If you’ve got a problem with me then just come out and say it rather than following me around all creepy like. I can tell she’s still around here somewhere, which is odd because she usually disappears once I catch her. Sigh… now I wish I hadn’t separated from Kai…

Cautiously I take out my shoes and begin to put them on. As I’m putting my indoor shoes away I feel her getting closer. Just as I turn to leave I spot the flying kick coming towards me. Get me once shame on you, get me twice shame on me, but thou shalt not be getting me a third time!

I block the kick just in time, grabbing hold of the foot so she can’t run away again. Turns out it was a big mistake as she clearly wasn’t expecting me to block and she ended up flipping herself over. She then went crashing to the ground, pulling me along with her. “Owowow…” Merda that freaking hurt!

I tried to get up but the girls all sprawled out on top of me, with her elbow in my gut. I grunt and lift my head so I can yell at her to get the hell off me— HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP! My entire view is blocked by pink floral print panties! Her freaking skirts been flipped up! I shut my eyes and turn away but it’s too late, the image is forever burned into my mind.

It’s probably gonna haunt me in my nightmares now…

As I try to push her away she suddenly gives a squeal and jumps off me. Thank Dio… I think I’m gonna talk to Kai about making girls wear shorts under their skirts as part of the uniform… I’d hate for something like this to happen to Tsubaki, plus I think I’ve seen enough panties to last me a life time…

“Having fun?” I jump at Reborn-sensei’s amused chuckle.

I roll my eyes and slowly stand up, “Ugh… I think I’m going to throw up…” I take a deep breath to prevent my lunch from coming back up. I think the experience at the fair with Katerina had left me with an allergy to anything pink, frilly and overly girly…

As usual Sensei just chuckles in amusement at my suffering…

 _Don’t fall into his trap, just ignore him._ I repeat over in my mind taking another deep breath. I’ve seen Sensei pound Masamune to the ground way too many times now to know better than to let him provoke me. He lowers his fedora so it shadows his eyes and gives a satisfied smirk.

“R-R-Reborn-sama!?” the girl stutters (wow she’s still here), clutching the back of her skirt and blushing all the way to her ears. “Why is Reborn-sama here?” Wait what? How does she know Reborn?

“Her name is Azusa, the daughter of your ‘ _Uncle_ ’ Gokudera Hayato. She’s also a trained hitman, having taken an interest in firearms at an early age.” Sensei replied with a smirk. “Quite the marksman or so I hear.” At these words Azusa-san blushes ten shades darker and squeals as she folds into herself.

“Eeeeehh!?” She’s Uncle Gokudera’s daughter!? And a hitman to boot! Well, now that I look at her I can sort of see the resemblance… But freaking a hitman!? “Wait! So, she’s part of the mafia!?”

“Naturally. Her father _is_ the right hand man to your father, the Vongola Decimo.” Seriously!? I can’t believe this!

“WHAT?” Azusa-san screeches having broken out of whatever reverie she was in. “You’re the son of the Vongola Decimo!?”

“Eh? Uh… erm… y-yes?” You didn’t know after all that time you spent stalking me?

She looked down with her bangs covering her eyes and her fists clenched. “…unacceptable…”

“Um… e-excuse me…?”

Suddenly she raised her head and proclaimed: “I’ll never accept a wimp and a loser like you as the Vongola Undicesimo!” What? “I won’t let sully the Vongola (and Decimo-sama’s) name!” Huh? Wait just a second here! “I’ll retreat for today, but be prepared! For the next time we meet will be your last!”

“W-w-w-wait j-just a—” I tried to catch her as she dashed off but my dame-ness just had to kick in and make me trip over my shoe laces. “Owow…” Damn, she’s gone… I turn around all teary eyed, “Rebor—” And… he’s gone too… fantastico…

**“What the diamine was that all about? Since when does Uncle Gokudera have daughter?”**

“Oh, so you’re talking to me again?” I glance up at him as I pick myself off the floor.

**“…Well it’s not like I could stay silent after that happened…”**

“I guess so…” I was getting kinda sick of the quiet anyway, “…Truce?”

**“Yeah, truce.”**

Well, at least one good thing happened today. I smile a little and head back home for another tortur— I mean tutoring session with Masamune and Sensei.


	7. The Shocking Baseball Game Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Yuki's introduction... so many memories~ :) Azusa and Kai just sort of popped into my head, but Yuki's story developed and changed a lot before we ever got to even meet the next generation's very own baseball nut ^^

There isn’t a cloud in the sky on this wonderfully hot and humid Saturday afternoon in June. Lovely, is it not? The correct answer is: NOT!

Merda, this really sucks… Oh, how I wish there really was rain on my horizon today… For the sake of all that’s good, why must I be here baking in the sun watching a freaking _baseball_ game? I have freaking baseball-phobia for crying out loud! And of course Sensei demands that Masamune be here too.

The reason? Well…

…Le flashbacks to a more peaceful time known simply as: “earlier this morning”…

_“…Itadakimasu…” I mumble as I take my place at the end of the table. Ignoring the gunshots and shouting from upstairs (Masamune likes to sleep in when there’s no morning practice) I dig into my breakfast. Must eat as much as possible before Reborn-sensei comes down…_

_Just as I finish pouring myself some juice the devil himself appears, and half my breakfast disappears in the same instance. How does he manage to steal my food so damn fast? Or rather, how does he manage to swallow it at the exact same moment without choking? Maybe I’m better off not knowing…_

_“Dame Sora.” Sensei’s voice brings me from my musings. “The baseball team is having a practice game today.”_

_Well, that was unexpected… “Um… yeah… and?” Just what has this got to do with me?_

_“You’re going to watch.” He said it like it was a foregone conclusion._

_Which it most certainly is not! “What! Why?” There is no way in hell I’m going anywhere near a freaking baseball game!_

_“Naturally, to recruit some new subordinates for your famiglia.” What!? Subordinates!? “Your famiglia currently only has the two members: Hibari Kai and Allaire Kasumi. That Gokudera Azusa is also a possible member.”_

_Huh!? My famiglia!? I don’t have a freaking famiglia! “Wait! Kai and Sumi-chan are just friends! And that Azusa chick is out to kill me, remember?”_

_Sometime during the, admittedly, one-sided argument Katerina had left to spend the next hour or so in front of the mirror putting on makeup and such. Masamune had also come down for breakfast and was currently fighting to keep it on his plate._

_Oh, come on! “Don’t ignore me!” I’m so not going to that baseball game!_

…End of flashback...

“…” I really should have brought some sunscreen with me today. Seriously, it’s like an oven up here in the stands.

I glance over to my left where Masamune is sulking a little ways off. After bragging about how he didn’t need any one’s help in recruiting famiglia members Sensei said: “Then you can show dame Sora how it’s done.” There’s no use sulking, you totally dug your own grave there.

After the initial shock and rejection to the idea, Masamune had decided he actually wanted to be a mafia boss. Given that the Dying Will bullet gives him this incredible power and let’s do amazing things (it’s still embarrassing though), of course he’d want more of that power. If that’s what he truly wants then let him be the Vongola Undicesimo already!

I want nothing to do with the bloody mafia! Plus, once Masamune sets his sights on something then there’s no chance of me getting it at all. It’s much easier to just let him have what he wants anyway. It had always been my life plan to let Masamune take over Padre’s business in the first place.

Me? I was just gonna graduate as a D grade student and maybe go to a D grade university. Then I’d get some low position in Padre’s company and live out the rest of my long and pathetic existence in peace. Maybe one day I’d find a kind, accepting girl and possibly get married and have a family. But I’ve gotten used to the idea of it just being me and Aigís for life.

Well those plans are shot, considering Padre’s “company” is actually one of the biggest mafia families in the world… I wonder if the mafia has relatively unimportant, low risk, low level desk jobs… Maybe I’ll ask Padre next time he calls or emails. He finally got in contact again during the week; apparently it’s pretty hectic over there so he’s been really busy.

Wow, just think… one day that’ll be Masamune buried under paperwork and meetings. Guess it really isn’t that much different to an actual company in the end.

 **“Hey… Where’d Reborn go?”** Huh? Now that you mention it…

I glance around looking for the familiar fedora and black suit but I can’t find him anywhere… Merda… don’t tell me he just dumped us here…

**………**

I wish he had just dumped us there… Seriously, I am about two seconds away from crying here… Though I have to admit, Sensei’s getting pretty creative with his torturing methods… Why the diamine am I standing out in the scorching sun wearing a freaking baseball uniform!

Turns out Reborn-sensei is actually also a professional baseball coach and kindly offered to coach our team for the day since the real coach suddenly fell ill and couldn’t make it today. Not only that, but over half the player got food poisoning, the subs too… So “Coach” went ahead and found a couple of spare players.

Guess who he got? No seriously, guess. I’m currently in Narnia, having tea on the ceiling with Mary Poppins while I help babysit some Pegasus foals. Therefore: _unavailable_.

BAM! I’m brought back to my miserable reality when my skull collides with a baseball.

“ARGH!” Holy shit, that freaking hurt! And of course they’re all yelling for me to get the damn ball rather than seeing if I’m okay… cazzi…

**“Hey, you still alive there?”**

“Ugh… I hope not…” Blearily I sit up and look over to where the damn ball landed, but then the ground underneath my hand starts making a beeping noise. Oh merda… I manage to roll away just before ground blows up below me. Did I forget to mention we’re playing Vongola style baseball? Oh, and that we’re currently losing?

What surprises me is that no one has died yet. With mines buried all over the field and a ball that may or may not explode on contact with the bat, there should have been at least one casualty by now… I’m getting a lot of dirty looks now though… Apparently it’s my fault that this sadistic coach is forcing them to play this deadly game, and it’s my fault we’re losing too.

And of course, Masamune has absolutely nothing to do with this either… Yep, it’s all on me. Oh, what _fun_ we are having.

“Don’t mind!” An overly hyper and friendly voice shouts as we head back in for our turn to bat. I turn to find Mizuno-sempai draping his arm over my shoulder with that big, stupid, fake grin plastered over his face. “Everybody drops the ball sometimes!”

“…” I just stare blankly in response. I didn’t drop the damn ball; it hit me in the freaking head… I’m lucky my head is so hard after seven odd years of constant beatings, or I could have been permanently damaged…

“It’s all good! I just have to pitch a little harder next time!” While sempai laughing all carefree like, the rest of the team sends me death glares and silent threats about messing up. Oh, how I wish there was a hole for me to crawl into and hide…

As I sit down in the corner furthest away from everyone I can’t help but think there’s something up with sempai today… Even though he’s still got the same old grin on his face it looks a hell of a lot more strained than normal. And he looks like he’s struggling really hard with his pitching and batting too.

I don’t think he _can_ play any better than he’s doing now. Something in the back of my head just keeps nagging me about this guy. Now that I think about it, when he touched me before, I got a really strange feeling. Like the one I get from Kai, Sumi-chan and sometimes Tsubaki. It’s as if the flame inside me is being pulled.

Also… his chest didn’t feel all that broad against my back just then. He really does look oddly slim for a guy that trains hard every day… it couldn’t be that… but maybe… he can’t possibly be…? Anorexic?

**“You think the guy might be depressed or something?”**

“I dunno but…” That fake smile would make more sense if it’s true… What he could possibly have to be depressed about is a total mystery to me. The guy has everything: good at sports, okay grades, he’s super popular too. Hm, guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

**………**

Even with all of Mizuno-sempai’s and Masamune’s home runs, we still lost… And what a brilliant loss it was! We did all the great losers of the world proud! Yes, no one could have lost that game as amazingly, or by as much, as we did!

Oh yeah, turns out the school we were playing against has had a long running rivalry with us. So it’s incredibly shameful to lose against them, plus it damages the reputation of the baseball team! Isn’t that just the most wonderful thought? To top it all off, the other team gets bragging rights! In the words of my “extreme” Uncle: what extreme sportsmanship!

Sigh… I’m just glad it’s all over and I never have to go near anything baseball related ever again, since I’ve been banned from the club. Geez, overreaction much… It’s more of a reward to me rather than a punishment though. Oh… I’ve still gotta fight Kai today too… Better get going or I’ll be late.

Not that I was planning to stick around here at all. I have a tingly feeling in my gut telling me something bad is about to happen too. As if today could get much worse… Now that I’ve said that, it’ll probably start raining or something. Maybe that’s what Sumi-chan meant about the “rain on my horizon”.

Urgh… the tingly feeling is kinda giving me a headache now… Not to mention there’s probably a lump on my head where the ball hit me. Reborn-sensei left with Masamune so I doubt he’s got anything else planned for me today… I increase my pace a little, but just as I round a corner I bump into someone and fall backwards to the ground.

“Watch where you’re going, dame Sora!” Sneers the guy I bumped into. Oh crud, it’s one of the guys from the baseball team… and it looks like the rest of the team is here too… Fantastico…

I scramble to my feet, mumbling an apology, even though I’m the one who got shoved to the ground, and turn to leave. I’m barely able to take three steps before they circle around blocking the way. I have a really bad feeling about this. Sigh… I should’ve just stayed in bed today…

“Hey, hey, don’t leave yet dame Sora.” One snickers with a cruel smile on his face.

“Yeah, we wanna have a little chat.” From the way they’re all smirking and the nasty looks on their faces, I’d say they don’t to just _chat_ …

Well, I’m not really up for a “chat” right now, plus Kai’s waiting for me. I scan over them as they start closing in, some laughing and cracking their knuckles, which makes me back away until my back hits the wall behind me. Guess there’s no escaping now… this is really not my day. Kai’s gonna be so mad when I don’t show up on time…

Aigís makes a threatening growling sound and comes dangerously close to the one who knocked me over, the vice-captain if I’m not mistaken. I narrow my eyes at him, sending the silent message to _back the hell off_. Mr Vice-captain appears to flinch ever so slightly and stops abruptly.

They all glance questioningly at him, so I use the moment they’re distracted to dash off the side and barrel through a bunch of first years. Taken by surprise, I manage to escape their encirclement and proceed to run for my life. Running from danger is skill I’m particularly gifted at. Still, they’re all athletes so I don’t have time to relax as they’re right on my heels.

My lungs burn and my throat feels raw but I keep on running with the team thundering behind me. I try turning corners in an attempt to lose them. Ah! There’s the river! Now if I can just make it onto a main street then I should be safe. And as a bonus we’re pretty close to Kai’s “territory” too.

There’s no time to celebrate because one of the brutes yanks me by the arm and me being my dame self ends up falling over, sliding down the hill onto the river bank. At least I took two of the guys with me… I raise myself up on my arms, trying to catch my breath, when someone slams their foot on my back forcing me back down. 

Pinned to the dirt I struggle to free myself but it’s no use, I’m stuck. Instead I turn to glare at my capturer, the vice-captain. He’s panting hard as he sneers at me, “Hahaha… Did you… honestly think… you could get… away?”

He then lifts his foot off my back and slams it into my side. By now the rest of the team has caught up and the form a circle around me. I bite my lip in an attempt to keep from crying out in pain as they each take a hit at me. I can feel the bile rising in my throat with each kick to the gut. I hope my ribs aren’t broken…

Aigís hovers around the edge, snarling and growling menacingly. Dio, he really sounds like a wild animal… Well, I guess he kinda is like a wild animal. Only one that’s been domesticated or something; like a lion in a cage. He’d better not try anything funny…

The kicking stops briefly as one of them yanks on my hair, pulling my head up. Then the punching starts. I’ve already lost all my baby teeth, so I’d rather not get a tooth knocked out… I’m not all that fond of the idea of a broken nose either… I spit out some blood as they toss me to the ground again.

Have they finally had enough?

Urgh, nope… they’re just taking a moment to catch their breaths before they start up again… Merda it really hurts. I hope Kai will let me postpone our fight till tomorrow. I don’t think I can fight anymore today…

The beating comes to a halt when I hear somebody bellow, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?” Blearily, I look up to find a royally pissed off Mizuno-sempai.

Wow, never thought I’d ever see _that_ look on his face. Apparently some of the others didn’t either as half of them bolted at the sight of him. Most of them looked like first years. But the vice-captain, most the third years and some of the second years stayed. The smile on Mr Vice-captain’s face is giving me a really bad feeling…

“Good afternoon _Captain_.” The way he said ‘captain’ sounded like an insult, “As you can clearly see we’re putting dame Sora in his place.”

I spit out some more blood and roll my eyes; that’s all _anyone_ wants to do with me. Sempai said something in response but I didn’t catch it, the others laughed though. A very unpleasant kind of laughter… I try to get up but my face is slammed into the dirt (for the umpteenth time today) and a weight is pressed on my head.

I can’t really make out what they’re saying anymore, but I think the vice-captain is rebelling against Mizuno-sempai or something. And he looks damn confident about it, like he’s got something on Sempai that’ll ensure his victory. The members that stayed must be backing him up as well… Maybe this is what was bothering him, a split in the team.

Suddenly I hear the distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh and the vice-captain is flung to the ground. Looks like Sempai hit him pretty hard. The rest then start ganging up in him and it turns into an all-out brawl, with me caught up in the middle of it. Well, ain’t that just dandy…

I curl up into a ball trying to avoid any more damage. I hope Sempai will be okay… the odds aren’t exactly in his favour here…

“Herbivores, it’s forbidden to crowd in front of me.” As if someone hit the ‘pause’ button everyone just stops at the oh-so-wonderful sound of Kai’s voice. “I’ll bite you to death.”

**………**

Kai must’ve come looking for me when I didn’t show up on time; I had told him that I’d be at the baseball game after all. Still, his “hunting” instincts never cease to amaze me. I can always count on Kai to find me whenever I get lost, which happens more often than I’d like to admit.

“H-H-Hibari-san!” The lump of meat on top of me stutters and backs away. The majority of the team does the same, probably thinking they could make a break for it. But now that they’ve moved I’ve finally got enough room to breathe. Tenderly I uncurl myself and lift my head up to where Kai is standing above us.

He narrows his eyes dangerously and I can visibly see his irritation level rising dramatically. Everyone else can probably see it too as half of them try to escape screaming like girls. They sealed their fate the moment they had their backs turned on him. With one swift movement Kai swept his whip down on them knocking them all to the ground.

Some try to fight back but Kai’s way to quick, and about a thousand times stronger, and they’re out cold in a matter of seconds. Even Mizuno-Sempai wasn’t left out and was flung off to the side as Kai charged past him in pursuit of the remaining guys that fled. He paused only once to give me the “don’t you dare move from there” look.

I watched him disappear off into the distance for a while before getting up into a sitting position. I heard sempai groan as he too tried to get up off the floor. Carefully, I checked over my wounds, feeling around for any broken bones or cuts. Luckily, it doesn’t look like anything’s broken this time.

I can still taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth and spit out some more of it. Looks like I have a cut on my lip and maybe on the inside of my cheek too. There are a few scrapes and bruises on my arms and legs; my stomach is most certainly covered in bruises. Other than that there aren’t any serious wounds.

“Ugh… You okay there, uh, Sora was it?” Mizuno-sempai comes wobbling over to me and offers me his hand.

“…A-actually… i-it’s Cielo…” I murmur as I take his hand and pull myself up. “…But, Sora is… its fine…”

He blinks confusedly at me before grinning again. “Okay, ‘Cielo’ it is then!” This time it feels just a little more genuine. I can’t help but smile weakly in response, he definitely looks better with a real smile on his face.

Of course, I had to go and ruin the moment by stumbling backwards into the river, pulling sempai along with me. Yep, real smooth… I really am “dame Sora”, aren’t I?

Somehow I ended sprawled out on top of him, with our legs all tangled up and my face pressed into his chest. Seriously though, the guy’s only a year older than me and I only come up to his damn chest— Wait… huh? That’s weird... why is his chest all _squishy_? Now that I think about it, given our current position, I should be feeling a “bump” against my leg too… why isn’t there a “bump”?

**“Holy shit… how did we miss this?”**

Swiftly I push myself up muttering an apology and quickly move off “ _him_ ”. I can’t help but stare, slowly processing this new information… “His” now wet clothes are hugging “his” figure. I can clearly see the “his” thin waist, wide curved hips, not so broad shoulders and there’s no Adams apple. Plus, “he” has a squishy chest…

I could hit myself at my own stupidity for never noticing this before, but then again, I don’t think I’ve ever taken the time look closely at sempai’s face before… The soft curves of “his” cheeks, the lines of “his” nose, those round deep blue eyes with long eyelashes, even the way his dark hair frames his face are a dead giveaway…

Hang on, is that blue in “his” hair? On each side it looks as though there’s a dark blue-ish black streak of hair… Seriously, what is this? Are we part of a generation born with mutant hair genes or something?

**“Focus, Cielo! More important things to think about right now!”**

Oh! Right… Back to the present… the person sitting completely soaked in front of me is not the ever popular male third year student and captain of the baseball club that everybody knows him to be… Why? Well, that’s because…

…HE’S A FREAKING SHE!!!

Oh, now I get what that weird feeling I had about him— erm, about _her_ was. But why is she pretending to be a guy? And does it have something to do with that fake smile? Dio, this day just got really weird…


	8. The Girl's Unreachable Dream Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know much about baseball, or if there are any female players in Japan... Pretty much all I know about it comes from anime... But lets just pretend this is the way things are in this world, kay?

Ever since Mizuno Yuki was a small child she has loved baseball. It has always been her dream to become a professional baseball player. A dream that had been shattered at age twelve when she was told that once she‘s in middle school, girls weren’t allowed to play on the baseball team.

Why? Why can’t the girls play with the boys like in the Little League? Why aren’t there any all-girl baseball teams? Why must she give up her dream just because she’s a girl? She was better than the boys on her team, everyone had said so. She practiced hard every day, and trained constantly all for the sake of her dream.

Yet, she just had to give up. Just like that? Just because she’s a girl? No. She’d never give up on her dream! If being a girl was what was holding her back then she’d just have to become a boy!

Her parents simply couldn’t understand her or her dream, so she left home. She moved far away from her home town to Namimori where her older brother lives. He always supported her dream and helped her in dressing up and acting like a boy. He was an Otaku through and through, and they’d often gone to conventions and dressed up in costumes together.

It was with his help that she was able to fool everybody into believing she was a boy. True, the first year was tough and full of near misses, but she got used to it. She joined the baseball team and even managed to get a spot in the first string! But towards the end of her second year things started getting tougher.

Puberty, god damned _puberty_ just had to kick in… She was becoming more and more feminine by the day. Her chest just wouldn’t stop getting bigger, and strapping it down every day was becoming so difficult! Her voice was getting higher and soon people would begin to question why it hadn’t broken yet.

The shape of her body was becoming more prominently female. The more she tried to hide it, the more obvious it become to her. Then those damn monthly pains had to start! Mood swings, stomach cramps and the bleeding! It was all too much! Somehow she managed to cover it up by saying she had a weak stomach, but it felt like such a weak excuse…

The perfect mask she’d spent almost two years building up was starting to crumble. Every time she felt eyes on her she couldn’t help but panic. She became aware of every little movement she made. Was this the way a boy sits? Did she look like a boy when she walked? Do boys hold their chopsticks like this?

Her fears and paranoia were affecting her game too.

Her batting average was slipping and her pitching was off. She tried to make up for it by practicing harder and longer than everyone else. Pushing herself to the limit, ignoring her body’s pain. She had to prove herself! To prove she was a boy! A boy who was good enough to go pro!

But today was the worst game yet… No matter what she threw at them they just kept hitting her balls. She barely scored half as many homeruns as normal. Plus half the team was missing, so there was almost no one else she could rely on to make up for her bad plays. She tried to encourage them, keep up their spirits, but it was no use. They lost.

It was only a practice game, she told herself over and over again. But while she wallowed in her self-despair she spotted some of the team talking to someone. It was that Sawada kid from the basketball team who subbed in today. He was cornered with his back to the wall as the others were hovering over him.

Before she could move in to stop them they left. The Sawada boy breathed a sigh of relief and hurried away. But something was nagging her about the looks on the other guy’s faces. They were even more devastated by their loss than she was. Shaking her head she let them be, they all had to cool off their resentment and disappointment for the day.

Yuki needed to calm down too… she’ll put in another hour of practice before going home… She was about to head out when she overheard a group of first years whispering amongst themselves.

“…Is it really okay?” The smallest boy (what was his name again?) squeaked fearfully.

“Just forget about it, dame Sora is cursed! Everybody says so, we shouldn’t get involved!” his friend growled back.

What’s this about dame Sora? “But shouldn’t we at least tell the Captain?”

“Baka! Then we’ll be made targets too!” Made targets? By who? She couldn’t ignore this…

Quickly she snuck up behind them and made them almost jump out of their skins when she said, “Oh, tell me what?”

**………**

Yuki didn’t really know that ‘dame Sora’ kid all that well, but she’d seen him a few times with Hibari Kai and she’d heard quite a few of the rumours about him. He wasn’t the best player but he had taken the time to help them out today, that made him a good kid in her books.

After interrogating the first years she had dashed off straight away in search of that nasty sneak of a vice-captain! How dare they think of blaming that poor kid for their loss, for _her_ loss! She’d never gotten along with that guy, and she had the feeling he was up to something else too.

By the time she’d found them they were already ganging up on the poor kid, beating him black and blue. Most of them ran off when they’d realised they’d been caught, but her bastard of a vice-captain and most his friends stayed. The confident look on his face and the way he looked down on her made her feel sick to the stomach with dread.

Her suspicions were confirmed by the offensive comment he made about her manhood, or rather her _lack of_ manhood. He knew. The bastard knew her secret! He was threatening to expose her! But she certainly wasn’t going to take it lying down!

She punched him so hard it knocked out a tooth, and then the brawl started. She dodged left and right throwing in punches and kicks wherever she could. But they outnumbered her and she was too inexperienced in fighting, trying her hardest to protect her right arm, her pitching arm.

If not for the sudden appearance of Hibari she would have lost. And no doubt that asshole would’ve tried to strip her to prove she wasn’t a boy. She was safe for now, but for how much longer could she keep this up?

A groan from beside the river bank brought her attention to the only one who had remained untouched from Hibari-san’s wrath. She felt a twinge of guilt for having forgotten about this poor kid. He didn’t deserve that beating and he certainly shouldn’t get mixed up in her problems.

Offering him a hand she received a shy nod and quiet murmur of his name. So it was ‘Cielo’ not ‘Sora’? Well, she didn’t like calling him ‘dame’ anyway, so she’d call him Cielo.

Suddenly Cielo slipped and fell into the river; she tried to pull him up but ended up getting dragged down with him. Ah… now they’re all beat up and soaked. How is she going to explain this to her overprotective brother? Then she realised the very _suggestive_ position they’d fallen in and couldn’t hold back the blush, particularly given where his head was.

He snapped up all of a sudden and scrambled off her murmuring an apology. Oh, god. He hadn’t noticed had he? He was just staring blankly at her now. So he hadn’t…?

He tilted his head to the side confusedly and asked quietly, “Sempai… Why are you pretending to be a boy?”

HE HAD NOTICED!!!

She looked down red faced and realised her how her wet clothes were clinging to her frame, revealing all the curves and lines of her female body. Her blush deepened and she crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide. She turned to glare at him but he only blink confusedly in response.

There was a moment of awkward silence before a light bulb seemed to appear above his head, “…Ah…! So _you’re_ the ‘cross-dressing herbivore’ that Kai’s always complaining about…”

Usually she would feel offended at being called a “cross-dressing herbivore” but she was too focused on the words “Kai” and “complaining”. These two words just don’t belong in the same sentence… the fact he’s even using Hibari’s name so casually is strange enough as is. Just what kind of relationship do these two have?

Gasp! Could the rumours about them being “ _together”_ really be true?

She couldn’t stop the blush that crept onto her face at that thought. But she was snapped back to reality when she found a hand being waved in front of her face. “Sempai…? You’ll get sick if you stay there…”

She blinked before she realised she was still sitting in the river. “Hahaha, you’re right!” Laughing weakly to cover her embarrassment she took the extended hand and pulled herself up.

Looking at his face she noticed how his lips curved ever so slightly downwards and how his thin eyebrows were slightly scrunched together. Though his eyes remained blank, she was sure he was scowling. Now that she really thinks about it, this kid doesn’t show much emotion on his face and when he does his eyes always remain blank.

“…Why do you do that…?” She barely heard the quiet mumble he produced, his voice sounded hoarse as if it’s rarely used. Then it occurred to her that it probably wasn’t, given all the rumours about him, it’s likely he doesn’t have any other friends aside from Hibari.

Still, his question confused her, “Do what?”

“…” His frown deepened and his expression turned into something close to disappointment. “…that fake smile…”

She tensed eyes wide and jaw hung open as that one clear aquamarine orb continued to watch her, to _analyse_ her. It was as if he could see into her very core, and she didn’t like it. What’s with this kid, and that disapproving look? So what if her smiles were fake, at least she was trying!

“It’s got nothing to do with you!” She finally snapped and let all anger out. The frustrating loss of today’s game, all the stress that’s been piling up lately, and now she’ll have to deal with that asshole of a vice-captain’s shit! “You don’t know anything!”

“…” He took a step back from her, but that look on his face remained.

“Baseball is my life! It’s who I am! Without it I have nothing!” She didn’t care that she was yelling. Her expression turned sour. “What would you know? As a boy you’re free to do whatever you want, but I can’t even play my favourite sport just because I’m a girl!”

“Wh—” He opened his mouth, probably to retort, but she wouldn’t let him get a single word in. She stood up to full height so she could tower over him.

“Didn’t you know? ‘Girls are weak and defenceless’.” She sneered mockingly and gave him a shove, he stumbled to the floor. “We’d just get hurt playing sports with the boys. Girls are meant to be the kitchen baking and playing with their dolls.”

These were the insults that had been constantly thrown at her whenever she voiced her thoughts. Even her parents said these things. What irked her most was that most girls just went along with it. Sure some would complain and speak against them, but in the end that’s all they ever did: talk. They spoke big, inspiring words but no one ever acted open them.

“That’s why I’m ‘dressed as a boy’! Because only by being a boy can I do what I want!” Yes that was the answer, by becoming a boy she could do anything she wished. She was no longer limited by the narrowed views of society! “As a girl I’m nothing, but as a boy I’m free to be anything!”

When she looked into that eye again (when had she turned away?) she didn’t like what she found; pity. The brat had the gall to _pity_ her!? SHE DIDN’T NEED HIS DAMN PITY!

Then everything just spilt out, “I KNOW! I already know my batting average is dropping! I know my pitching isn’t at its best right now! But that’s what training is for! I train harder than everyone else! DON’T I AT LEAST GET THE CHANCE TO TRY!? THERE ISN’T ANYONE WHO LOVES BASEBALL MORE THAN ME!”

She seized the front of his shirt as her enraged babbling continued to flow out. Yelling and screaming like a child and she just couldn’t stop. How her teammates angered her, how she hated her parents, how her friends were all so fake; she told him everything. And all the while, he just sat there in silence.

By the end of it she was gasping for breath, face red and throat sore. Then after it became clear she was done he spoke. Very softly, almost timidly, he spoke the very words she had been thinking over and denying for over a year now: “…I-if it hurts you s-so much… th-then why don’t you just quit?”

**………**

“Quit” had never been a word in Yuki’s vocabulary. And yet here in front of her, a complete stranger had said it so casually… and she couldn’t stop the small voice inside her that agreed with him.

…Quit baseball? No! She’d never admit defeat! She had to prove everybody wrong! That a girl could play baseball just as much as a boy could!

As if he gained some new strength he continued much more confidently. “If you really want to prove that a girl can play baseball then why do you have to be a guy?” She let go of his shirt and pulled back, eyes wide with realisation. “Doesn’t that mean that, subconsciously, you _agree_ with them?”

 _How can that be…?_ Her knees gave way under her and all the power left her body.

“And why can’t you play baseball anyway? It’s not like it’s physically impossible.” He sounded bored, sarcastic and confused at the same time, it was so strange.

She lifted her head weakly to look at the strange boy sitting across from her, “I already told that everyone says—”

“They’re just _words_ , it’s not like they can actually stop you from playing. It’s your life; you can do whatever the hell you want with it.” He replied dully.

Any and every retort became caught and died in her throat at his words.

It was as if a something just clicked inside her and the whole world just… it just _made sense_. Deep down inside she’d been thinking these things, but she never acted upon them. She was just a hypocrite like everyone else; crying at her own misfortune and expecting someone else to fix it for her. Like some useless princess waiting for her prince charming.

How could she have been so blind?

“And the reason for your bad play has probably more to do with that arm rather than needing more practice.” He gestured boredly at her right arm, somehow still sounding concerned, ignoring the look of surprise painting her face.

How had he known her arm was hurting!? Sure she was pushing it but… it wasn’t that bad of an injury, just a strained muscle… right?

“I’d get a doctor to look at it if I were you.” He stood and offered his right hand. She eyed him warily before taking it and pulling herself up.

Suddenly, she recalled all she had said and the embarrassment hit her like a wave. She looked away, unable to meet his eyes.

“Hm?” He squeezed her hand just a little, “Sempai, do you play guitar?”

She blinked. “Y-yes, just a little… H-how…?”

“You’re right handed but there are smooth calluses on the fingertips of your left hand. That’s why… I thought…” He scratched his cheek sheepishly with a tiny smile on his face.

“You… play guitar too…?”

“Yep! I love music!” She did a double take at the instant enthusiastic reply.

She laughed. For the first time in a very long while she laughed genuinely; a hearty warm laugh. Cielo’s eyes seemed to widen slightly before he broke into a smile, one so big it showed his teeth, and began laughing with her.

“You know,” He murmured as the laughter began to die away, “I like the baseball loving girl that laughs more than the baseball playing boy that pretends.”

Ba-thump.

What was that just now? Just what was that “Ba-thump” supposed to mean? She could feel her face heating up. What should she do? This is so weird! She’d never felt these strange feelings before, especially not about a boy!

“Small animal.” They both jumped so high as Hibari abruptly appeared out of nowhere.

She dropped Cielo’s hand and jumped back in shock as the carnivore approached them. He ignored her and went straight up to Cielo instead, who had a hand over his chest clutching his heart.

Her jaw dropped when he turned to Hibari and muttered dryly, “I demand you wear a bell.”

Her eyes then bulged out of her head when Hibari just smirked, “Hn.”

She practically hit the floor when he proceeded to pat him down, checking over his wounds. The Hibari Kai, the most feared person in all of Namimori, a verified _demon_ , was concerned for another person’s well-being! Dear God, hell must be freezing over…

After she finally got over her shock she was overcome by guilt when she realised that she had completely forgotten about the beating Cielo had just received. He must be absolutely covered in wounds! How could she be so selfish and forget about him! She was so busy with her guilt that she missed half the “conversation” occurring in front of her.

“…late…”

“… Sensei… baseball game…”

“…Hn.”

“No.”

“… Phone…”

“…! Hehe… at home…”

“…”

“Sorry?”

“Hn.”

“Still tomorrow…”

She couldn’t for the life of her figure out the flow of this conversation at all. Heck, it was mostly made up by non-committal grunts!

“…Wet?”

“Fell… river…”

“Hn…”

Okay she just can’t follow this anymore…

Cielo must have said something to annoy Hibari because he was about to slam his fist onto his head. But he stopped short of his forehead and pushed up his bangs instead. It revealed a huge swollen lump that was raging an ugly purple colour. Shit! That looks painful! Where did he get that wound!?

“...?” Hibari narrowed his eyes questioningly.

Cielo just shrugged, “A baseball hit me.” WHAT!? WHEN!? “Its fine, my head’s pretty hard.”

TAKING A BASEBALL TO THE HEAD IS NOT ‘FINE’! She wanted to shout but surprisingly Hibari beat her to it.

“HOW IS THAT ‘FINE’!? YOU COULD BE SERIOUSLY HURT! HEAD WOUNDS ARE DANGEROUS!”

Once again she was floored by Hibari’s complete change in character. She just can’t believe he’d ever be worried about someone else like this! Cielo just rubbed the back of his head and gave a weak smile, and she swore Hibari gave an exasperated sigh in response!

“You— oh, forget it.” He grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag him away, but was stopped when Cielo turned back to her.

“Sempai, you should probably come too.” What?

Hibari narrowed his eyes, “No.”

Sensing his bloodlust she quickly refused, “I’m fine! My house isn’t that far from here.” Actually it was a bit far but nothing she couldn’t handle.

He just tilted his head to the side and countered boredly, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be walking home like that.”

Suddenly she remembered she was soaked from head to toe and blushed in embarrassment.

Hibari was not pleased, but then Cielo had this expression on his face… it wasn’t really puppy dog eyes but that’s about as close as she could come to describing the downtrodden, pleading look he had on right now… Hibari’s eyes twitched and he glanced off to the side exhaling loudly.

Cielo immediately brightened, “Come on sempai.”

Reluctantly she followed the strange pair to wherever it is they were going, a hospital she assumed given Cielo’s wounds. While she followed she couldn’t help but wonder when he had been hit by the ball? Then it hit her. How had she just forgotten!? She had spoken to him straight afterwards too!

No, she didn’t forget. She knew exactly what had happened but she _chose_ to ignore it! Why?

She watched the way his long brunette ponytail waved back and forth as he walked. Wow, the way the sun reflects off the gold in his hair was gorgeous! Now that she’s properly looking at him, this kid is absolutely _stunning_! Everything from the way his pale olive skin contrasts with his dark long eyelashes to his bright clear aquamarine jewel for an eye!

Why hadn’t she ever noticed this before? Every time she’d seen him she’d just written him off as very _plain_. But he is anything but plain! Heck, he stands out even more than his ever popular, foreign looking brother! But why hadn’t anyone noticed this? Why hadn’t she noticed him before?

Granted she had never been interested in any boys before but still…!

She made a vow to never overlook Sawada Cielo again. This kid in just a few simple words had saved her from her self imposed hell. She had never been able to see and think so clearly before and she was sure it was all thanks to him. He was so warm and accepting and just so _right_.

Turning her face to the sky she felt a burning resolve light up inside her. She swore she’d protect him! After all, she’d just made an irreplaceable friendship. A friendship she was never letting go of, even if it dragged her down to hell itself!

**………**

My face hurts... So does my voice…

I guess I really don’t talk all that much, do I? Constantly changing my facial expression is a pain in the arse, besides I’d rather not give the bullies the pleasure of seeing my pained face. All they’re ever gonna get from me is blank determination.

No one wants to talk to me anyway so I guess I’m just out of practice. Though, I’m perfectly fine with being blank faced and semi-mute. But I’m glad Sumi-chan has been talking to me. If I hadn’t had those past few weeks of practice I don’t know if I would have been able to talk properly to sempai.

Kai’s still a little pissed that he had to bring her along but it’s not like I could just leave her there all wet. Someone could see her, plus it was my fault… People tend to scatter whenever they see Kai approaching and there are very few kids from Namichuu wandering around in his “territory”, so she’s not likely to be seen while she’s with us.

He has a tight grip on my hand as he drags me to his house. He already called their family doctor to come. He’s often on call for Tsubaki due to her low blood pressure and she used to have weak bronchial tubes too. She often got sick, but she’s steadily growing out of her condition. It kinda reminds me of Masamune when he was young.

I hear a gasp from behind me as we approach the Hibari residence. Yeah, I know, it’s ridiculously huge right?

**“Wow, she looks like she’s about to faint.”**

“ _Don’t tease her…”_ I mutter quietly in Italian, trying not to attract her attention.

As soon as we walk through the door I barely manage to catch the head of the shadow that nearly glomped me. “Sorry Tsubaki, but I’m all wet.” I apologise with a wry smile at her pouting face.

“…Okay…” She looks down and I let go of her head. Kai has disappeared, probably to get the doctor. She turns to sempai and narrows her eyes dangerously, “Who is that?”

Sempai flinches so I introduce her, “She’s Mizuno Yuki, my sempai from school.”

Tsubaki eyes her warily before quietly introducing herself, “Hibari Tsubaki.” Sempai appears speechless and just nods in return. Tsubaki then hugs my arm and proclaims, “I’m going to be the one to marry the small animal.”

“Eeeeh!?” both of us shout at the same time.

“Tsubaki, again!?” I don’t know why but she seems to be dead set on us getting married. I’ve managed to avoid the topic with the excuse of our ages but… frankly I’m scared for my life if I outright refuse her… Kai would kill me if I said ‘yes’ and Tsubaki would kill me if I said ‘no’…

Damned if I do, damned if I don’t…

Dio I hope she finds someone else to love before she becomes legally old enough to marry… She deserves a hell of a lot better than “dame Sora”.

“I-I see…” Sempai manages to stutter out a response. Merda the atmosphere here is getting awkward… I think I’ll go find Kai…

“Umm, Tsubaki can you go find your mother…? S-sempai needs a change of clothes…” Better separate them before sempai gets stabbed to death with Tsubaki’s prized Japanese knife set.

“…okay…” She gives one last disdainful glance to sempai before scampering off.

Kai then reappears out of nowhere and we left sempai with the girls while I go see the doctor. Personally I feel fine, and I prefer to take care of my own wounds, but Kai wasn’t going to let me leave without getting a check-up. So a thorough examination and a change of clothes later, I meet up with sempai who’s sitting stiffly in the guest room.

I wasn’t sure she’d fit into my clothes at first but they look alright. Guess it’s a good think all my clothes are about two or three sizes too big for me. Hey, I like it that way, it’s comfortable and it leaves room to grow. Since this is pretty much my second home a lot of my clothes and things are here. I figured neither Kai’s nor Tsubaki’s clothes would fit her.

She smiles and relaxes when she spots me but then suddenly becomes rigid, staring wide eyed at my face. “It’s not as bad as it looks…” My heads all wrapped up because of the bump, but it really was nothing. It’s just a bit swollen that’s all. Really it just needs some ice on it.

 **“You do look like a mummy with all those bandages though…”** Once again: not as bad as it looks!

She nods slowly and continues to stare… What the hell is— oh Merda… I forgot to put my damn eye patch back on. I roll my eyes and give her a withered look. Seriously, I’m too tired to even care right now. _Yeah, it’s orange and it glows. Deal with it._

She seemed to understand the message and looked down, “S-sorry!”

“…’s fine…” It’s the normal response after all. I decide to change the subject. “You can just drop the clothes off at the nurse’s office tomorrow.” Sawa-chan can hold onto them, so she doesn’t have to hand them to ‘dame Sora’.

“T-thanks…” I nod; it’s still kinda hard to talk to her. “Um, you come here often?”

“Uh, yeah... Why?” Isn’t it normal to visit a friend’s house often?

“N-nothing! J-just thinking…” She stammers and waves her hand dismissively. “Um... so you’ve known Hibari a long time?”

“Since I moved here from Italy… almost seven years ago…”

 **“Hey… that _is_ a long time.”** Yes, yes it is.

“So you two are close?”

I’d say we are; he’s my _person_ after all.

I believe everyone had that one person they can confide in, tell all their secrets and worries. The one that always gives you a shoulder to lean on, or cry on. You can go to them for anything at all, be it advice and just silent comfort. I know that I can always count on Kai to be there for me and just the same he can count on me.

Sometimes the night terrors just become too much for me. There have been nights that border on insanity and I just can’t be alone. Katerina is no help and there’s no way in hell I could go to Masamune. I can’t call Padre either, the one time I did he got all panicked and almost dropped work to come home. Katerina wasn’t happy when he spoke to her afters…

So I would just go for a walk. In the middle of the night. With the ‘ _things in the dark’_ following me around and the whispers of my nightmare in my ears. I did this for years before Kai found out. He was being driven home from the airport after his visit overseas with his father when they happen to drive past me.

Needless to say he was furious with me for being stupid enough to wander around town at night. I stayed with him that night and then, I dunno, it just went on from there. Every time I couldn’t handle the darkness alone I would just run to Kai’s. He always let me in even if it was the middle of the night.

I just needed someone to be beside me on those nights. And it was nice to wake up with him there (sometimes Tsubaki too) and then Yuuka Kaa-san would be there with a kind smile and a nice breakfast. She reminds me so much of my Nonna, kind gentle and arms always open.

Well, all this would be embarrassing to say out loud, not to mention my throats kinda sore from all the talking I’ve already done today. So I just shrug, “I guess we are.”

“I see.” She looks down again; I wonder what’s up with her now?

“As clueless as always, dame Sora.” Holy shit! Where did Reborn-sensei come from!?

“…Huh?” What does he mean by ‘clueless’?

“Figure it out yourself.” I huff and roll my eyes at his usual cryptic-ness.

“Um, and you are…?” Sempai raises an eyebrow at sensei.

“Chaos, I am Reborn the home tutor,” _and hitman._ I add silently. “I’m here for dame Sora’s next lesson.” Oh fantastico, more torture…

She smiled brightly, totally fooled. “You have a pretty cool tutor Cielo-kun!”

I give another shrug and a sigh. There’s that happy-go-lucky nature again… damn baseball nuts… well at least it’s a genuine smile this time. I think I have just created another Yamamoto Takeshi though… Dio, I hope she’s not as scary as him.

While I will admit Reborn-sensei’s a little cool, he’s still the devil incarnate.

**………**

I wanted to stay at Kai’s tonight, and he didn’t look too pleased about me leaving early either, but Sensei isn’t one you can say no to… Apparently, I have more training early tomorrow morning. _Fun_ right?

So after detaching myself from a Tsubaki glomp and reassuring Kai I would be fine we left together with sempai. She had her wet clothes in a bag, I tried to take back my uniform too but Yuuka Kaa-san wouldn’t have it. She said she’d wash it and just leave them with my other clothes ready for school on Monday.

As we part ways with sempai I recall the funny feeling I had when she touched me. Sensei knows a lot about the Dying Will flames so maybe he knows what it is. Though I doubt he’ll tell me, it’s still worth a shot. “Um, Sensei?”

“Hm?”

“Can people other than the Vongola have Dying Will flames?” It was the only way that would explain it. If Kai, Tsubaki, Sumi-chan and Yuki-sempai had flames then it makes sense for my flame to react to theirs, right?

He smirked and pulled down his fedora, “Dying Will exists in all living things, however, very few a capable of wielding it. Furthermore there are many different types of Dying Will flames which differ from person to person.”

Well, now I’m just more confused. So everyone has Dying Will but only some people, like me, can use it? And now there are different types too!? I think I might have unwittingly just made more homework for myself…

I suppose my flame must be a very common type, given it’d just like normal fire. Well, except that it’s a darker more vibrant orange than a normal flame, oh, and it doesn’t burn me…

My thoughts are interrupted by the fedora placed on my head. It’s too big and slides down over my eyes. Pushing it up, I raise a brow quizzically at Sensei who just smirks, “For now you just have to focus on your own flame, how to properly control it and bring out its hidden potential.”

“…Okay…” I mumble and race after him as he walks away. I have to hold the fedora on my head so it doesn’t fly away.

The rest of the walk home was spent in comfortable silence.


	9. The Changing Her Mind Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cielo's family is growing fast. Although, it seems that Azusa's story got pushed back a little coz of all the newer ideas I had and it took longer than I thought it would to get to this point... Also, I suck at fight scenes... even now I still kinda suck at them...

Coffee is freaking amazing.

Well, provided you make it right, when you make it wrong its total crap. Katerina’s coffee is a prime example of just how disgusting coffee can be sometimes. Seriously, I don’t get how she can drink such horrible stuff. Reborn-sensei seems to agree with me because he always makes his own coffee.

Which is why I was kinda surprised when the other day, instead of dragging me up to the mountains for our usual early morning tutoring (read: ‘torturing’) session, he dragged me into the kitchen and said: “Today you’re going to learn how to make coffee.”

I think Padre was the one who bought the coffee machine (it looks like one from a proper café, only smaller) and the coffee grinder. I’ve never seen Katerina use it, but Padre makes his own coffee like sensei does. I actually think she really wants to get rid of it but can’t because its Padre’s…

Well, anyway… Sensei taught me how to make a simple black coffee and how to heat up the milk with the machine. It took about ten tries before I got it right and another eight before he said it was drinkable. I take it as a compliment that my coffee is at least “drinkable” compared to Katerina’s.

Now it’s my job to make the coffee every damn morning… Sigh, at least I can make coffee now. I still think it’s too bitter and I have to put milk and sugar in mine, but it’s so nice. Particularly before the usual four a.m. “tutoring” session, I feel less tired after the coffee and I have just a little more energy.

I’m still pretty tired though… I yawn loudly as I trudge slowly bag home. The sun’s peaking over the rooftops now so it must be close to about seven o’clock. Being awake all night and then going out really early is incredibly tiresome. It’s only halfway through the week and I’ve already had enough…

I still don’t really get the point of these sessions... Sigh, well at least he’s not throwing me into snake pits or mine fields anymore. Now all I have to do is light a bunch of candles with my flame. Though, it seems pretty pointless to me… I mean, seriously, candles? Why the diamine is he making me light candles?

**“Well, it’s not like you’ve been able to do it right yet.”**

“ _Oh shut up. I’m getting there…”_ I scowl lightly. Sensei went back ahead of me (it’s Masamune’s turn for torture) so I’m free to grumble.

It’s not my fault those damn candles are so small and easy to melt. It would be so much easier if I was allowed to touch the damn things. Every time I try to light one, the whole thing bursts into flames and melts, plus it gets the ones next to it too… And sensei just has to make it harder by setting them up in a pattern too…

A circle of candles, where I’m only allowed to light every second one… Seriously, we must be funding the entire candle industry with the amount that have been liquefied and replaced… Though, I can’t help but wonder where the diamine he keeps pulling all this stuff out from. He only brought the one small suitcase with him, didn’t he?

Yet he’s always producing things out of nowhere, like he had it the whole time. All those random costumes, those grenades, bombs and other various weapons of mass destruction… Where is he getting it all from? Maybe it’s like how Kai can magic up his whip out of thin air…

**“Telephone pole.”**

“What—” Bam! “Argh!”  Where the diamine did this effing pole come from!?

**“Hahahaha!”**

“It’s not funny!” I growl while rubbing my sore forehead.

**“Yeah, you’re right… it’s not funny, it’s hilarious!”**

“F***. You.” I glare and turn away with a huff. Just because this cazzo can walk straight through everything…

I shake my head as I pass through the front door, murmuring a small “…tadaima…” Sensei had made a point that a mafia should always announce his presence within his own home. It was a rather painful lesson.

Katerina was in the kitchen washing the breakfast dishes and since it’s so quiet, Masamune and Sensei must already be gone. There’s still an hour before I have to leave so I grab some bread and shove it in the toaster. Katerina leers at me with a plastic smile on her face. Guess she’s still pissed that Reborn-sensei likes my coffee better than hers.

She eyes me up and down, her hands on her hips, “Really Cielo, why can’t you dress more appropriately? Those clothes are very unbecoming of a lady.”

I huff and glance down at my clothes: a light blue sleeveless hoodie and faded blue jeans with rips here and there and frayed at the ends. There’s nothing inappropriate about what I’m wearing! Dio woman! When will you realise I’m not an effing girl!

Besides my style of clothing is almost the same as Masamune’s! Seriously, maybe it’s a “twin thing” but we have almost the same taste in pretty much everything. From our style of clothing to the kinds of foods we like, heck, even our taste in movies and video games is the same!

Of course, there are some differences here and there. Like how I hate sports but Masamune loves them, and how I prefer hoods whereas Masamune hates them. Oh, and the fact that he only wears brand name clothes and I’m happy with whatever. I guess the fact all his clothes fit and mine are too big or me is also a different choice in style.

Maybe it’s because our clothes are so similar that Katerina keeps giving mine to him. He doesn’t even wear most of them though. I’ve had to sneak into his room when no one’s home just to get them back…

Rolling my eyes I take some leftover bacon and eggs from the fridge (clearly she wasn’t planning on feeding me today) and make myself a toasted bacon and egg sandwich. She keeps on ranting away about nothing while sit down to eat. I think I’ll just get dressed and go after I finish this.

**………**

_People are freaking annoying!_ I can’t help but think as I make my way to my classroom.

Argh! They won’t stop staring and whispering amongst themselves as I pass. The look of sheer terror on their faces is all that’s keeping me from letting Aigís mess with them. Apparently, the rumour of me being cursed is true now since I had, according to them, put a curse on the baseball team.

Seriously, what the hell?

This is all that damn baseball freak’s fault… She should have just left the clothes she borrowed with Sawa-chan, like I told her, instead of bringing them to my class. She— err, I guess I should be saying “he” since at school she’s still a he… anyway, _he_ randomly showed up at my class Monday morning asking for me.

I hadn’t expected to ever talk to her/him again so I was kinda speechless… Well, I was kinda worried about what she/he… Merda this is too hard… Screw it, I’m just gonna go with “she”… So, I was worried over what she’d do about the whole “cross-dressing” thing. Turns out she had quit the baseball team.

Yeah, I really wasn’t expecting that. She looked kinda relieved though and happier than I’d ever seen her. She said that she just needed some time to clear her head and gather up her thoughts. “Just some time to figure some things out.” she had said… I don’t really get it, but so long as she’s happy I guess its fine. She’s still pretending to be a boy though…

I suppose suddenly coming out and saying “Guess what? I’m a girl!” would be kind of weird. And she only has to pretend for the rest of the school year anyways…

Everyone had somehow connected Yuki-sempai visiting me to the reason for her leaving the team. How? I have no idea. They also seem to think I’m the reason the cazzo of a vice-captain had been kicked off the team. People are really stupid too… How the diamine is him getting kicked off the team connected to me!?

The guy had been blackmailing the other team members for ages! Plus he went around beating up rival teams just so they’d have a better chance at winning! Kai had been the one to report him in; he won’t tolerate any kind of illegal behaviour like blackmailing. Well, the guy wouldn’t have been able to play anyways since Kai also broke his arm.

But in the end, the team did lose both its captains and some of its best players in one go. So everyone immediately assumes the team was cursed by dame Sora! Idiots! The lot of them!

“Yo! Cielo!” Sempai randomly pops up next to me scaring the shit out of me.

“Ah…err…c-ciaossu…” Merda wrong greeting… so damn hard to speak properly… Why must people make my life hard by talking to me? Sigh, I miss my solitary existence…

“Haha, that’s a cool word, is that Italian?” She grins, placing her elbow over my shoulder and leans on me a little as we walk. I just shrug, unable to find my voice. I don’t really know it’s a made up word after all. She seems to get the message and just laughs.

We continue on to my classroom with sempai chattering away about pointlessly random shit and me just listening silently. Is this weird? Like, should I be replying? I have no idea… I’ve never had a conversation with such an upbeat person before… this _is_ a conversation, right?

I glance at sempai’s bright happy grin and offer a very small awkward smile in response. I guess this isn’t so bad…

**………**

Azusa had made a mistake… No, that’s an understatement; she had failed big time! All this time, the kid she’d been targeting was the Vongola Decimo’s son! HOW COULD SHE NOT HAVE REALISED THIS SOONER!?

“Calm done Azusa!” she gave herself a light slap to stop from freaking out and paced around her room some more. She needed to keep her cool; she can’t rush into this all impatient hot-headed! That’s what got her into this mess in the first place! Just rushing in without thinking! How could she be so stupid!?

If she had kept calm and investigated properly then she would have easily found out this incredibly important piece of information a hell of a lot sooner!

Well, it was partly the old man’s fault for not telling her she was attending the same school as the eleventh! Why hadn’t he told her something so important!? She’d had to call him up herself for confirmation. “ARRGHH! GODDAMN OLD MAN!” she screamed punching the wall.

Luckily Clara was out grocery shopping so she could vent and not get yelled at. But still! The nerve of her stupid father! Telling her he’d already sent that info long ago! If he’d sent it then why the f*** didn’t she already know, huh!? Damn old man must be getting senile! No Azusa! Focus now! Be pissed off later!

Take a deep breath… let it out… count to ten… repeat.

“…”

Okay! Now, to go over all the new information plus what she has already obtained, which admittedly, isn’t much… The files from her good-for-nothing father contained very basic info on Decimo-sama’s sons. Yes that’s right, “sons” as in _plural_. That no good scrawny brat had a twin!

Naturally she was rather pleased at this news. The Vongola would have a future after all! The guy had a lot of achievements under his belt already; surely he’d be the best choice for the title of Undicesimo! Azusa was certain of it! That is until she found out who said twin was. All hope for the future of Vongola shattered.

Why did it have to be that pig-headed, arrogant, perverted, prima donna of the basketball team Sawada Masamune! F***! She hated that prick’s guts! The asshole had the nerve to f****** _flirt_ with her and all her friends, thinking he’s hot stuff! Perverted beast! How could this have happened!?

How could both of Decimo-sama’s kids be so damn useless!?

It must be that wench who called herself Decimo-sama’s wife! She passed down all the bad genes to her sons so they didn’t inherit any of Decimo-sama’s wonderfulness! Oh, how she loathed that woman! Of course she’d never actually met her, but she loathed her all the same! Especially when she heard of how the wench had up and disappeared without a trace!

It made Azusa happy knowing Decimo-sama was free of her, but also very sad knowing she had just abandoned him. What kind of woman in their right mind would give up such a wonderful man like Decimo-sama, plus the two kids she’d left behind! If she ever meets that puttana, she’s gonna punch the living daylights out of her!

“Ah!” She slapped herself again, “Focus Azusa, focus!” With one last shake of her head she dived back into her research.

**………**

…Clearly, Sawada Masamune was the better choice. He was popular, strong and she’ll admit he had charisma… But she still hated his guts! However, she hated that spineless coward dame Sora even more! The brat was the oldest yet he lets himself get pushed around and walked all over by his younger brother!

He was certainly a useless no good coward and wouldn’t survive a day in the mafia! But Reborn-sama was tutoring him, well, his brother too but, it was the Reborn-sama after all! The world’s number one hitman! The very best home tutor there is! And he complimented her marksmanship!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Slap! “Focus!” She can fangirl over Reborn-sama later! Right now she has other priorities!

Speaking of “fangirling”… those few weeks she’d spent observing dame Sora had produced rather surprising results. Mainly in discovering his connection with Hibari Kai, as well as their so called “fan club”, and the strange activities of the Occult club too… Well, she would have just taken him out straight away if that damn Hibari guy hadn’t interfered!

She’d approached him before, due to his connection to the Vongola Cloud guardian, wanting to know where he stood in terms of allegiances. He proved to be incredibly uncaring and unsympathetic towards the Vongola. So she’d just ignored him. But how in God’s name did that scrawny brat manage to get _him_ as his subordinate!?

Hibari-san was probably even more violent and ill-tempered than his father! Yet he guarded dame Sora like a hawk! She couldn’t even get close to the guy! So she’d tried just following them around, waiting for an opening to attack. That’s how she ran into the Occult club members.

They were stalking dame Sora to see if the rumours of him being possessed by a demon were true. She had never been one to believe in silly things like curses and demons but these rumours did intrigue her. Things like rumours have to start from somewhere, right? There must be some truth in them.

The strange behaviour of the brat must be the cause. He keeps talking to himself, having strange one-sided conversations. He probably has some form of schizophrenia or something… It was odd, but nothing really all that “occult” about it, he can’t help it if he’s sick after all. Another reason he shouldn’t be the Eleventh.

Shortly after her run-in with them she came face-to-face with the so called “Bishonen FanClub”. Before then, Azusa had never even heard that such a club existed. Those rabid fangirls are terrifying! They seemed to think she was one of them for some reason and dragged her back to their “secret club house” in the shack behind the gym.

She found out why when she got there. These girls were shipping random couples within the school. All male couples! Like the former Baseball club Captain and the Boxing club Captain. One of their favourite “fandoms” is matching the demon spawn Hibari Kai with dame Sora! Heck, even one of the _teachers_ is into this crap! She’d like to get her hands on the crazy cagna that has the nerve to call herself a teacher!

Meanwhile, faraway in her office, a certain school nurse suddenly sneezes.

She had managed to escape, but only with a whole pile of doujins, drawing, falsified photos and some fan made stories shoved in her arms. She was going to just throw it all out on the way home but, they did go through all the trouble of making this stuff, and she was just a tad curious… Well, curiosity killed the cat and she ended up taking them home.

She wasn’t planning to read this junk, she was just gonna take a little peak. Yeah, that’s all… It was just that the doujin she happened to pick up ended with a cliff-hanger! She had to go on! And on, and on, and on… until she’d ended up stayed awake for almost the whole night reading everything they’d given her…

The most shameful moment of her life was when she returned to the clubhouse the next day and signed up for full membership… Argh! The shame of it all!

Slap! “FOCUS, GODDAMIT!” Deep breaths, in and out…

Right! She needed to concentrate here! Based on her findings it was clear that the younger twin was better suited to be the Eleventh. However, she can’t right off the older twin just yet. He had, after all, managed to get the uncooperative Hibari Kai on his side. And he had blocked her kick that one time too… He must have some hidden potential at least.

She would test him! If he wasn’t up to her standards she’d just kill him off, or scare him away, whichever comes first, and side with the other twin. She’d make sure that bastardo learns his place… It didn’t matter that her old man told her to stay out of it and just observe (as if she’d be a good little princess and wait); she was taking matters into her own hands!

As much as she loves these older model handguns, it’s best she use the ones she’s most familiar with. She’s going all out with this one! Placing the old ones back she picked out her two Beretta M92s, a Beretta AR-70/223 assault rifle and, for good measure, a stack of dynamite and a few grenades. She would be prepared this time!

Her face burst into a heated blush as she remembers her last encounter with the loser twin. Yes, she would be prepared… Instead of wearing her skirt high-waisted, she began wearing it on her hips to give it more length and, just in case, she also wore a pair of bike shorts underneath. It was easier to conceal the holsters for her twin Berettas this way too…

Now that she was adequately armed it was time to plan out her next move. This time she would not fail! Especially not with Reborn-sama watching! “…Hehe… Sawada Cielo… Prepare to meet your doom! Ahahahaha!”

At this time Clara Alessi returned home to find her mistress in a fit of maniacal laughter. She is currently contemplating on whether or not she should be getting her a therapist…

**………**

Today’s lunch is really, really awkward… I am so glad Kai is busy biting people to death right now. He definitely wouldn’t be happy with this.

Yuki-sempai had decided she would be eating lunch with me— err, I guess it’s “us” now… well, with me and Sumi-chan. I wasn’t really against having sempai around for lunch so I said it was okay. I’m not really used to eating with anyone other than Kai or Sawa-chan yet so I didn’t really think about what Sumi-chan would think.

She seemed okay with it though. When the two met, it was like they had some kind of silent conversation between girls or something. The atmosphere became really tense and it gets worse whenever they speak face to face. Seriously, I’m ready to bolt at the first sign of a catfight breaking out…

 **“If a fight does break out, I’d place my money on the tomboy.”** Would you just stop!

Oh yeah, Sumi-chan also knows Sempai is a girl. “Woman’s intuition.” She said.

I don’t really get it though, since most girls appear to be totally fooled. They tend to gossip a lot on which boys are the “hottest” and such; Sempai is apparently one of the most handsome guys in the school. The sheer irony of it all is freaking hilarious.

Wait… Sempai would have had to have the same medical check-ups as everyone else, so does that mean Sawa-chan knows too? Great, now I really want to know… Asking Sempai kinda feels awkward, and I haven’t seen Sawa-chan in a while (been too busy with Sensei and my new friends… we are friends, right?). Guess I’ll go and see her after school.

Kai didn’t come back to class after lunch, so there must be a really big disturbance going on… Ugh, my “Reborn senses” are tingling… I don’t like this… got such a bad feeling right now… Okay, I’ll just quickly go to the nurses’ office then run straight home! Yeah, that’s a solid enough plan, what could possibly go wrong?

EVERYTHING! That’s what! Sigh, its lines like these that make all the bad things happen… I seriously have to stop saying and thinking them…

I stupidly decided to take a shortcut around the back of the school only to run into that girl, Azusa-san, fully armed and ready to kill. Then Sensei shows up all innocent-like and I suddenly find myself in a life or death fight with my “uncle’s” daughter (which I still can’t believe he actually has).

Sigh, f*** my life….

**………**

“HIIIIEEEEE!!!” I cry as I dive behind a tree for cover. Said tree immediately becomes riddled with bullet holes (I’m so sorry tree!).

“STOP RUNNING!” Azusa-san (read ‘crazy trigger happy chick’) screeches and throws a bomb at me. HOLY SHIT! She threw a bomb at me!?

 **“Get moving!”** Aigís gives me a shove and I stumble away just dodging the explosion.

“HIIEEE!” What the diamine is wrong with this chick!? Ah the poor, poor tree…

And Sensei is just standing off to the side with an amused look on his face… the cazzo… Seriously, if I try to run he starts shooting at me. How does that saying go again? “Stuck between a sadist and a gun-maniac”?

Okay, Aigís can stop a bullet that much I know, but I have no idea if he can stop a whole freaking barrage of bullets! And frankly I’m not all that keen on finding out… But given the circumstances, there isn’t really that much choice here… _Kai, if I die, you can have my guitar…_ I pray silently.

The shooting pauses briefly so I dash out from my hiding place and rush her, hoping to throw her off-balance. But she’s incredibly fast at reloading and in one fluid motion she clicks in the ammo and fires repeatedly. I flinch but somehow I manage to keep going. The bullets deflect off Aigis’s barrier allowing me to continue on safely.

Her eyes widen in shock as I lunge forward reaching for the guns. Successfully knocking her down we wrestle for a few moments before I manage to knock one away and grab the other one. She aims a kick to my gut, pushing me back enough for her to escape. Swiftly we jump further apart; I duck around the corner for cover, panting hard.

She swears and I peek around the corner. “It’s not over yet!” She growls and pulls a _rifle_ out of nowhere! A WHOLE FREAKING RIFLE!

“Hey, that’s cheating!” I don’t even have any weapons aside from the gun just I took off her, “Where the hell were you even keeping that anyway!?”

She turns bright red shouting, “Y-you pervert!” and proceeds to rain death on my hiding place. How the diamine does saying that make me a pervert!?

Seriously, I’m about to cry at the ridiculousness of all this… Sigh, I want to go home…

“Crying won’t change anything.” My thoughts are interrupted by Sensei’s smooth baritone. I just give him a withered look that says: ‘ _no shit Sherlock’_. He just smirks. “Then, what _are_ you going to do?”

‘ _Run.’_ Would be my first answer but he’s clearly not going to let me. She reloads too quickly for me to rush in and I’m not chancing it again. She also has explosives on her… My cover is almost gone too… Oh, I still have her other gun. I examine it for a bit, checking how many bullets are left…

Only two bullets… Well, it’s not like I know how to use this thing anyways… I’ve fired a gun once but that was ages ago, and it flew out of my hands knocking me over too. I’m so screwed… I just want to get home and play my guitar… I slump further to the ground in depression.

…

… Huh? Hang on a sec…

The sound of the bullets hitting the wall is kinda… how to put it… It almost sounds like she’s firing to a rhythm or something… Okay, let’s pretend that’s not a completely idiotic thought and say she is firing to a rhythm… It kinda sounds like it in 3/4 time. And, if in the off chance it’s actually true, then I should be able to time when she’s about to run out of bullets!

 **“You’re sure about this…?”** Not one bit!

Well, it _is_ just a theory… But I guess it’s better than nothing. Placing one hand on the wall, and gripping the gun tightly in the other, I crouch down low counting the beat. As I count I try my hardest to think of how Sensei fires his gun (though I’m usually running away at that point). I take a deep breath.

3…2…1…NOW!

I spring out and dash forward just as the bullet storm begins to die down. I raise the gun and fire. It misses her but scrapes the barrel of her rifle. She gives a squeak and is thrown back by the force of the bullet. She hits the ground but her finger is still on the trigger and she ends up accidently firing it, destroying the supports of a nearby water tank.

The huge metal structure comes crashing down on top of her crushing her completely!

...Or, at least it would have if I hadn’t rushed forward and shoved her out of the way. We went rolling off to the side as it hit the ground beside us; Aigís shielded us from any remaining rubble. I ended up on top of her supporting myself on my forearms. It was a lucky escape…

Kai’s gonna be so pissed when he sees all the damage we’ve done… Actually, I’m surprised he isn’t here now. I’m sensing a Reborn related incident may have occurred…

“You… saved me…” I look down to find Azusa-san staring up at me wide eyed.

“…Umm… yeah…? I-it’s not like I’d j-just let you get… y-you know… crushed…” Even though it was own fault and you did try to kill me, I can’t just walk away…

She goes bright red and turns away. My arms hurt now… I’m getting up. As I do so she grabs my arm and whispers a very small “Arigatou…” I just nod in response and help her up.

She opens her mouth to say something else, but Sensei suddenly sends me flying to the ground. “Good job for obtained Gokudera Azusa as a subordinate for your famiglia, dame Sora.”

“Eeeeehh!?” What the hell?

“The loser always serves the winner. It’s the rules of the mafia.” He replies nonchalantly.

What kind of rule is that!? “Wait a minute she’s not in my famiglia!” What’s with that smirk…? Wait… “And I don’t have a famiglia!” Damn sadist, putting weird words in my mouth…

Suddenly Azusa-san grabs me by the collar of my shirt and point a gun at my head, “Listen up!” Merda this chick is scary! “I’ll admit you’re not that big a loser…” Was that meant to be praise? “But you’re still a wimp! Prepare yourself cause I’m gonna turn you into the best dang boss there is! GOT IT?”

So effing scary! “H-hai!”

“Humph, good!” She drops me on the floor and storms off. Her face and ears are still red…

**“I’d say that went pretty well.”**

“ _Please shut up.”_ I reply dryly. Seriously I’m so done with this shit… I really hope whatever god I pissed off in another life is done torturing me now…


	10. The Seeing a Doctor Project

It’s been over a month since Reborn-sensei arrived and in less than two weeks summer break will start. It feels like the weeks went by really fast, but it also feels like a lot happened in such a short time. It’s been a very weird experience…

But then again, _everything_ in my life has been weird lately, and noisy too…

Azusa-san really meant what she said about making me into “boss material”. She started hanging out with us during breaks and on weekends too. She’s always hitting me, saying stuff like: “Stop being such a wimp!” And when she was helping me with my homework she threatened me at gunpoint for “writing stupid things.”

I feel like people have said that to me before… Sigh, at least Yuki-sempai isn’t all that great at studying like me. Although, she still gets better marks than I do. Particularly since she has more time to study, now that she’s quit baseball. Azusa-san doesn’t like sempai at all. She also figured out that sempai was a girl… maybe it _is_ that “woman’s intuition” thing…

It’s quite funny to watch the two of them argue. Or rather Azusa-san yelling insults at sempai, and sempai just laughing obliviously. I can’t tell if she’s just brushing them off or if she really doesn’t understand she’s being insulted. Well, the arguing is a hell of a lot better than the heavy silence…

Seriously, the girls seem to be able to talk with one another just by making eye contact. They also seem to get really tense around one another, like they’re having some kind of contest or something… I don’t really get it… Sumi-chan remains impassive, Sempai just grins and Azusa-san looks pissed off all the time.

The really weird thing is that both Sempai and Azusa-san act totally different in front of everyone else! Sempai, I can understand; she’s pretending to be a boy after all. But Azusa-san practically has a split personality!

I once passed by her in the hallway and she was chatting away with some other girls. What freaked me out was she was quiet and was smiling! The way she walked was different too, as if she was a delicate princess! Having only seen the Azusa-san that yells and pissed off easily, I stood gaping stupidly for a few seconds before she sent me a very discreet glare.

Sempai and Azusa are like exact opposites… Sempai acts more feminine around me and manlier around others. Whereas Azusa-san acts more tomboyish around me and really girly around others! I have to say, I’m glad Sumi-chan acts the same for everyone… But, I guess she _is_ a bit friendlier to me than to others…

Merda, I need more male friends… these girls are gonna drive me crazy…

Kai absolutely loathes crowds. Apparently any more than two is a crowd, but I don’t really count for some reason. He could (grudgingly) live with Sumi-chan’s presence, but he would not stand for sempai and/or Azusa-san being around too. Generally speaking, Kai won’t attack a girl… unless they’ve either thoroughly pissed him off or he has a legitimate reason to bit them to death.

Of course, breaking any one of his self-imposed rules is considered a “legitimate” reason to be bitten to death… Honestly things have gotten a bit too crazy lately… Between the girl’s antics, Kai’s biting, oh, and the sheer chaos induced by Reborn-sensei, I just can’t get any peace around here anymore!

 **“I agree with Kai-chi, there are too many people hanging around us now.”** Yeesh, jealous much!

“You don’t get an opinion…” I’ll admit I miss the quiet too, but this isn’t so bad…

Masamune’s life seems to have also become a hell of a lot more lively too.

I guess that’s a given when one is continuously being shot with freaky bullets that kill you then bring you back to life, and make you run around like some crazy pervert in your underwear… The only reason his reputation is still somewhat intact is because he becomes really amazing when in Dying Will mode.

Heck, he’s become more popular than ever, especially after he got that creepy sports teacher fired for fraud. I swear that guy was definitely a pedo… He’s half the reason I’d try to skip sport all the time (the other half being that I just suck at it).

Anyways, Masamune gained a lot of followers recently. I heard that he even got the Student Council President on his side! That guy doesn’t seem like the type that plays well with others… I think he’s probably just interested in all the stuff Masamune’s been doing lately and maybe all the stuff about the mafia…

I wouldn’t really know anyways. I’m only able to hear this stuff second hand from others or when Masamune is boasting to Katerina, and he tends to exaggerate when he boasts to her. In fact, his being Sasagawa-san’s boyfriend isn’t entirely the truth either… Sure, they hang out and stuff and they seem pretty close but I wouldn’t say they’re “dating”.

They look like normal friends to me, but then again, what does a couple even look like? Is it like, _kissing_ and shit? Personally I find kissing to be a very gross activity. Not because of a childish excuse like “cooties” or whatever, but because I just don’t like the idea of sucking on another person’s face and getting their saliva in my mouth…

Do you know just how many germs are in a person’s mouth? Ugh, and the thought of having someone shove their freaking _tongue_ in my mouth just makes me want to throw up… No, I don’t ever want to have some chick’s spit covered tongue in my mouth.

Well, anyways… I don’t think that Sasagawa-san believes she’s dating Masamune either. Behind all the sparkles and bright smiles she actually has a very serious personality; nothing like Kyoko-Sensei at all. She’s also very smart and surprisingly tough. She doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Seriously, this one time when she had come over, I nearly fell down the stairs but she caught me. Literally, she caught my wrist and dragged me back upright! This chick is so freaking strong she even left bruises around my wrist! It was a deep blow to my manly pride to be proven weaker than Miss Sparkles… She must lift weights or something…

She doesn’t let Masamune get away with anything either. I think he must’ve really fallen hard for her if he’s willing to make compromises. The guy has always done whatever he wants and no one could tell him otherwise, until now that is… I do believe Sasagawa-san will be a very good influence on him.

**“It’s about time someone set that brat straight.”**

I let out a snort of laughter, “Heh, that’s mean Aigís!”

**“It’s still the truth.”**

“Pfft, stop trying to make me laugh; it’s too hot for this!” I sigh dryly.

Seriously, I hate summer! It’s just too damn hot and humid to do anything today! I don’t want to go to school today either… I glance at the alarm clock to find it’s nearly six o’clock, almost time for Sensei’s Leon-hammer wakeup call… fantastico…

At least tomorrow is Sunday and I don’t have to go anywhere… hopefully. With Sensei around, you just never know…

**………**

“It’s too hot…” I grumble as I lay sprawled out on the living room floor trying to eat my ice-cream before it melts off the stick. It was freaking hot at school yesterday too but today is a hell of a lot worse. Normally I’d be up in my room just lazing around on the floor or under of the air-con…

But today the worst catastrophe in the history of the world has occurred: THE FREAKING AIR-CON IS BROKEN!!!!

The first suspect on my list is that damn cazzo known as “Fate”. That asshole is always screwing me over… The very next suspect would have to be Reborn-sensei. Only because I know he just likes to watch others suffer, also because he never appears to be affected by the weather… I must find out how he does it…

One would think I’d be used to the heat given my ability to conjure up fire out of nothing, but no, I absolutely cannot stand the heat at all!

Since my room is probably the coolest place in the house, I usually just stay up there all summer and eat ice-cream. But I ran out of ice-cream and had to come down here to get some. It’s just so damn hot I don’t have the energy to drag myself back upstairs. Plus my room is only like two or three degrees cooler than the rest of the house anyways…

So, here I am, lying on the floor eating ice-creams out of a cooler box with a fan blowing air over me. I love ice-cream by the way. Actually I love anything that’s frozen or cold, like I’d prefer to have a cup of ice rather than a cup of water. And even though I hate yogurt altogether, I will eat it if it’s frozen. Cold food is the only thing keeping me cool right now.

I wonder if it’s worth venturing out into the heat to go to Kai’s place. It’s too hot to move though… “ **But he has working air-con…”** I know, but it’s like a hundred degrees out there. Ugh, my head hurts, it’s too hot to think...

My lazy pondering comes to a halt just as Masamune thunders down the stairs, talking loudly on the phone. How can he have so much damn energy in this heat? I’m actually kinda surprised he’s still using the phone Padre gave him when we started junior high. Masamune’s is white and sky blue and mine is orange and black.

Maybe it’s because they have a lot of fancy functions and you can download all kinds of apps and stuff. I like it because it’s easy to figure out and it’s virtually indestructible. Seriously, my phones been in the wash about nine times already and it’s still alive! I never really had much use for it before so I tend to forget I had it in my pocket…

Kai got a phone that looks similar to mine, only its purple and black. He rarely used it too. Before I only had Kai’s, Padre’s, Masamune’s and the home phone numbers on my phone, my world was very small, but now I have Sumi-chan’s, Sempai’s and Azusa-san’s numbers too… Okay, my world is still kinda small…

Texting is kinda new to me… I don’t understand a lot of the stuff Sempai says…

What the diamine is “L M A O” and “: D” supposed to mean anyways? Is it like some kind of code? I don’t get it at all… It scared the crap out of me the very first time I got an actual phone call (it was from Azusa-san). It took me a few seconds to realise that weird beeping sound was coming from my phone… I need to change the ring tone…

“That’s impossible.” Masamune comes into the living room with a bottle of water still chatting away with whoever it is he’s talking to.

Since I’m hot and bored I roll onto my stomach and just watch him walk around while he talks. He’s pretty much wearing the same kind of clothes I am: a grey singlet and some knee length denim shorts. The only difference is I’m wearing a yellow singlet and khaki shorts. He hangs up the phone and sits on the edge of the couch, taking a big drink of water.

Huh? What’s that black smudge on his shoulder? I sit up to get a better look at it. Hmm, it kinda looks like a black skull. Oh, there’s a speech bubble coming out of its mouth… What does it say…?

“How embarrassing: You used to dress up as a girl when you were three…” What the…?

“Shut up dame Sora!” He spins around face red with anger and embarrassment. “You had to dress up as a girl too!” It was one of dear Aunt Katerina’s strange hobbies to dress her nephews up in girl’s clothes when we were younger. But that’s not really the point right now.

“It’s written on your shoulder.” I reply dully pointing out the spot on my own shoulder.

He checks the spot and cue loud screech of: “WHAT THE F*** IS THIS!?” I expect Reborn-sensei shall be appearing soon to explain this with some convoluted mafia related logic.

“Bakamune, you have the fatal Skull Disease.” His voice echoed eerily. I turn to find him leaning casually against the wall and talking through a green funnel (probably Leon). So that’s why his voice echoed.

Oh yeah, I so called it— Wait… did he say “fatal”? As in “going to die”?

Sensei continues explaining ominously. “It’s a mysterious disease which reveals all your embarrassing secrets all over your body until you die; otherwise known as the ‘Dying of Shame Disease’.”

…Say what?

“What’s with that!?” Masamune yells in disbelief. “There’s no way that’s true!” he walks over to the kitchen sink and starts trying to scrub the skull off. “As if such a crazy disease exists! Besides, how would I even get such a weird illness anyways?”

I’d have to agree with him here… This is probably the dumbest disease ever invented.

 **“Hahaha! It’s like literally dying of embarrassment!”** I know right?

Sensei just smirks though, “Bakamune, You’ve been killed with the Dying Will bullet ten times now. It’s always been said something horrible will happen to the victim after the tenth bullet,” He very calmly takes a sip of coffee. “It’s such a shame that it’s the Skull Disease.”

So it true!?

Masamune spins around utterly furious, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me this before!?”

Sensei just shrugs, “It slipped my mind. By the way, your secrets will continue to appear on your body after you die, which is at sundown.”

“…” Wow, Masamune looks like he could literally explode any second now.

But seriously, Sensei is probably getting the biggest laugh out of this right. I’ll bet he planned this in advance, the sadist… Oh, so this is why there wasn’t any random torturing— I mean _training_ sessions today.

“Ah, it’s on your leg too.” I point to the skull saying how he had wanted to be a girl so he could marry me. Wow that was ages ago, way back when we lived in Italy. I’d almost forgotten how close we used to be…

He groaned and shoved me aside as he raced upstairs, probably to check over his body and try to hide his secrets. Sensei gave an amused chuckled and then turns to me, “You’re not interested in finding out his secrets?”

Blank stare and then a shrug, “I already know all his secrets.”

**………**

I take another ice-cream out of the freezer and ask slowly, “He’s not really going to die… is he?” It’s far too hot right now for him to make such a bad joke…

“Unfortunately, he is. The Skull Disease is incurable.” His voice remains neutral as usual. I can’t tell if he’s serious or not… But I don’t think he’s lying either…

“…But you must have a cure of some kind.” I highly doubt he’d just let Masamune die… Besides, Padre was trained with the Dying Will bullet too (although I seriously can’t imagine Padre in Dying Will mode at all), so he must have survived this ‘Skull disease” thingy too.

He tilts down his fedora and smirks, “I have a doctor acquaintance that’s an expert on incurable diseases. He’s the one who cured your father when he had the Skull Disease.”

“…But?” This sound too good to be true…

“Too bad, he’s recently retired and living in Italy. Bakamune only has until sundown; even if I did call him, he’d never make it in time.” I knew it…

 **“Things aren’t looking too good for Bakamune~.”** Quit with the jokes already! This is serious!

“There must be some way!” I can’t just sit back and let my brother die!

Sensei’s smirk seemed to get wider, “Fortunately he had an apprentice, and she just so happens to live here in Namimori.”

For real!? Wow, that’s a strangely lucky coincidence. I smell a conspiracy here… oh well, “And? Who is she?”

“Someone you know very well.” I give him my ‘I-won’t-get-it-in-a-million-years-so-just-tell-me’ look. He just chuckles a little, “Her name is Maede Sawako.”

“…” Long pause… “EEEEHHH!? SAWA-CHAN!?” Are you serious!? Wait! If this doctor guy is an acquaintance of Sensei’s then… Sawa-chan is part of the mafia!?

 **“Who would’ve thought?”** Yep, definitely a conspiracy going on here…

Well, at least she’ll be easy enough to find… With a reigned sigh I head upstairs to get Masamune. This’ll be over faster if I just bring him with me rather than getting Sawa-chan to come here. He totally freaked out when I opened the door without knocking, it’s not like he was naked or anything… Drama queen…

He’d changed into a white long sleeve shirt and grey jeans (probably to hide the secrets). He must be absolutely boiling hot in those clothes…

“Come on, we’re going to the doctor for the cure.” I deadpanned and started to leave, Masamune grumbling after me. “Oh, and it’s on your neck too.”

I point to the spot where it says; “How embarrassing: you still sleep with your baby blanket.” He groaned in despair and rushed back into his room. I grabbed my phone and slipped on my shoes, and waited for him to come back. He came down grumbling as he finished tying a red bandana around his neck. It’s just too hot for him to wear a scarf.

I figure Sawa-chan would still be at school, even though it’s Sunday. She’s always there doing some kind of research. Plus she has mentioned a few times that the air-con in her apartment had broken, and the nurses’ office has working air-con. On a hot and humid day like this she’s bound to be there rather than at home.

Well, that was the theory anyways…

**………**

“Nobody’s here!” Masamune growls angrily.

I just sigh and roll my eyes. I can clearly see that, you don’t have to say it… It’s obvious she _was_ here though. Her laptop is on, there are files and papers spread out over the desk and her coffee mug is still sitting there half full. Maybe she just stepped out for a bit? Where would she go?

“Oi! What now dame Sora? The doctor isn’t even here!” Masamune wails looking scared.

“Just wait here…” I mutter and set off towards the library, she might have gone to get some reference books or something.

“Oi! Wait!” Masamune comes racing after me.

Can’t he just sit still for a few minutes…? Sigh, oh well, it might be faster if comes with me. Sensei looks pretty amused by the whole thing as he walks alongside us. Can’t he at least pretend to be a tiny bit worried here? Damn sadist; making me do all the work…

When we arrive at the library Masamune immediately begins searching up and down the rows of bookshelves. I watch him for about a minute before doing the most logical thing and asking the lady at the reception desk. Apparently Sawa-chan had been here earlier today but wasn’t here now… fantastico…

Masamune was getting really cranky; I would be too wearing all those clothes in this heat… Oh! And being told you’re gonna die at sunset wouldn’t put anyone in a good mood (except maybe Sensei…). I just ignore his grumbling and decide to try the teacher’s lounge next. She might have gone to get another coffee or something…

Once again, we just missed her… I never would have thought that Sawa-chan actually moves around so much. I had thought that she probably lived in the nurses’ office. I wonder if she’s back now. As we round the corner I nearly crash straight into Kai. He must be doing his Sunday inspection of the school grounds.

“Small animal.” He grunts a greeting to me before glaring at Masamune, who promptly tries to hide behind me. Then he notices Sensei and gives a nod in acknowledgement. Sensei returns the gesture by tilting down his fedora and smirking.

“…Ne Kai, have you seen Sawako-sensei?” Kai pretty much knows everything that’s going on in the school grounds.

“Hn… computer lab…” he replays nonchalantly.

 **“As expected of Kai-chi! So reliable!”** I can always count on him!

“Arigatou Kai!” I grinned at him, receiving a noncommittal grunt in response, and then dragged Masamune to the computer labs.

Just as Kai said, we found Sawa-chan in front of a computer, her maroon hair braided up Princess Leia style, dressed in a really casual skirt and T-shirt under her usual white lab coat (she has a weird fashion sense), sifting through some files on a thumb drive.

“Sawa-chan.” I call quietly causing her head to snap up.

“Chii-tan~!” She squeals flinging herself halfway across the room and crushing me in a hug. “Where have you been lately? I’ve been so lonely~!” Merda, she’s so damn clingy! I knew I should have visited her earlier… Seriously, I can’t breathe with my face shoved into her flabby chest!

**“Other men would seriously kill to be in your position right now though~.”**

…Why would anyone _want_ to be glomped to death?

Masamune briefly grabs her attention with a light, annoyed cough; I use the opportunity to squeeze out of her grasp. Sensei looks amused as usual… I’m just going to ignore him…

**………**

I had to quite literally drag Sawa-chan back to the nurses’ office, while trying to explain the whole “Skull Disease” thing with her damn arms wrapped tightly around my throat. Why am I friends with this idiota again? Masamune being incredibly grumpy and twitchy the whole damn time too… Well, he has only got about two or three hours at most until sunset…

Dio, the sooner he’s cured the better; I am so ready to go home.

Upon arriving she whips out her bright red rimmed glasses and suddenly goes into serious mode. She gets right up into Masamune’s face with an analysing look. Then she backs off, rapidly spinning around and proclaiming rather dramatically: “NOT CUTE!!!”

“…”

What… The… Hell… Sawa-chan…?

“Huuuh? What’s that supposed to mean!?” Masamune looks incredibly insulted. It’s not like it’s a compliment for a guy to be called ‘cute’ anyways…

“I only treat cute people!” Sawa-chan declares slipping her glasses back in her coat pocket. Once again I’m smothered in a Sawa-glomp, “Like my sweet little Chii-tan~!”

WHAT!?

**“Hahaha! Yup, just adorable _Chii-tan_ ~” **

“I resent that…” And Sensei just looks so damn pleased with the whole situation too… This whole damn thing is rigged I tell ya!

We spent another hour trying to convince her to treat Masamune’s Skull Disease. In the end I just couldn’t take any more and pretty much begged her to treat him so I could go home. Oddly enough though, I only got as far as saying “Please” before she appeared to have a heart attack and a jet of blood spurt out her nose.

Seriously, I thought she was having an attack of some kind and I’d end up with two corpses by the end of the day… Not a very nice thought… Luckily, she recovered immediately and then proceeded to treat Masamune.

Apparently the only way to counter an incurable disease is to get a disease that is the exact opposite to it, thereby cancelling out its effects. So basically Sawa-chan brought out this big ass (it was freaking huge!) needle and injected Masamune with something called the “Angel Disease” and now he’s cured.

This all sounds completely ridiculous to me but as long as he’s cured, I’m happy.

The walk home was nice and quiet too, since Masamune was just sulking and rubbing his arm. He never liked getting needles, can’t say I do either. Those things are bloody scary (particularly one that big). No offense to Sawa-chan’s “healing” abilities, but, I seriously hope I never ever get an incurable disease…


	11. The Lost and Found Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't remember what I was going for when I wrote the first part of this chapter, but I'm pretty sure it was important to the story I had in mind... at the time anyways... The second half really just spawned from this random idea I had. ^^

When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar dull grey sky of my, what do you call it, a “mindscape”? Yeah, that sounds about right. “The landscape of your mind” or something along those lines…

I must have fallen asleep after my “training” session with sensei. It’s kinda funny when I think about it, but I used to be terrified of this place, maybe because I had associated it with my nightmare.  It doesn’t frighten me anymore though. In fact, if not for _that guy_ I’d gladly come here every night.

That kid in the fox mask... he’s still here somewhere, lurking in the dark. Even after all these years he hasn’t changed a bit. And even though I’ve grown older and taller, that guy still terrifies me. He’s still here somewhere, waiting for me with his taunting and jeering. I shudder at the thought of meeting him again and run off in a random direction.

It must have been about a year ago that I discovered that this place wasn’t something out of a nightmare. Heck, this dull grey desert wasn’t even endless at all. There was so much more here for me to discover, and sometimes I wonder just how the diamine this place actually fits in my head. I mean, it’s all just something I dreamed up isn’t it?

As I walk I feel a gust of air blow past me and, like I passed through some invisible doorway, the scenery changes. Angle deep grey water surrounds me now; it feels nice and cool to touch. When I turn around all I can see is the new scenery, almost as if the desert was never there in the first place.

The sky is beautiful here; a white moon-like sun floating in a silky black sky. The whole place is like one giant shallow lake, with a few mountains and hills on the horizon. I continue on sloshing through the clear waters, until I come across a submerged train line. Hmm, well that’s new. It looks really old, I wonder where it goes.

I walk along the tracks, feeling something stir within me. It feels so strange, so… _nostalgic_. But why, I wonder? I’ve never seen this before. Still, it feels like something’s tugging at my chest, something telling me to follow the tracks to where ever they lead me. Sigh, I must be going a little crazy to dream up something like this.

Maybe I’d even dream up a train too. That’d be ironic, being run over by my own dreamed up train. If I die in a dream, does that mean I’d die in real life? Nah, that’s dumb. I’d probably just wake up and find Reborn-sensei standing over me with the defibrillators again. I have to wonder just who the diamine made up all these “Vongola traditions”…

Oh, there’s a train station up ahead! Not really much of a station, just a simple stone platform with a single bench from what I can see. It’s kinda lonely looking. Excited to see something new here, I run towards it. Of course, even in my dreams I’m still a clumsy idiot and end up tripping over my own foot. Way to go Dame Sora…

I expect to land face first in the water but instead I find myself on a grassy floor. The scenery must have changed again. Slowly, I rise and take in my new surroundings; a forest of some kind. It appears as though it is night time here, but when I look up the canopy leaves block all sunlight (if any exists in the first place) from coming through.

It’s not that scary though, everything’s so still and peaceful here. I dust myself off and wander off into the thick blanket of trees. Despite the lack of colour, the trees do look quite pretty and the air is fresh and clean. I could get lost in here for hours on end, just wandering around exploring the place.

Maybe one day I will; I’ll just get lost in here and never wake up. I’d never have to think about anything again, no more brotherly problems, no more sadist mafia tutors, no more bullying, no more worrying about being different.

It’d be a relief to just disappear into this nothingness and never come back…

**………**

I was very rudely jolted awake by a splash of icy cold rain on my face. Ugh, hello again reality…

 **“Bad dream again?”** Aigís asks worriedly.

I stretch a little and yawn, “Nah, the rain woke me up this time…”

Looks like I passed out or something; I’m sitting with my back against a tree and a bright green blanket draped over me. It’s pouring with rain but it’ll be so sticky and humid once it stops. Have ever I mentioned how much I hate humidity?

I stare down at the blanket; did Sensei put this over me? I wonder if it’ll explode when I get up… Suddenly two big yellow eyes appear on it and stare unblinkingly at me. If I were anybody else I’d probably be freaking out right now, but this has happened to me so many times already I’m just used to it.

“Hello Leon.” I murmur as he changes back into a chameleon.

I glance around cautiously searching for any sign of Sensei lurking around here with some kind of trap prepared. That’s weird; I don’t think he’s here. He never usually leaves Leon on his own, although, lately he seems to be leaving him with me a lot. But can he still use the Dying Will Bullet without Leon?

Well, I guess it’s the bullet that’s special and it shouldn’t matter much if he uses a normal gun. It’s just that he always used Leon for the Dying Will Bullet. Masamune really relies on the bullet to get him out of all the trouble Sensei causes. Oh, maybe he’s trying to get Masamune to be more independent or something…

Well, it’s none of my business. I shouldn’t really be reading too much into it.

Leon climbs onto my shoulder as I stand. Wow, it’s really coming down; maybe I should wait till it stops. At least, it’s finally holidays and I don’t have to worry about school for a while (minus all the “schooling” from Reborn-sensei). It’ll be Kai’s birthday soon, I have to get him a present, but I’m pretty much broke.

What would he even want anyways? I’m not very good at buying gifts for others, mainly because I’ve only really had like four, maybe five people to even _give_ presents up till now.

Katerina was easy: just a card or, if I’m feeling generous, a box of chocolates. I don’t have to worry about Masamune either; he’s happy just getting money. Padre was a little tougher but he’s usually happiest with something home-made, like that photo frame I made out of papier-mâché and macaroni in the fourth grade.

**“And what a work of art that was~.”**

“Oh, shut it you cazzo!” It was only because Kyoko-sensei had helped me make the damn thing that it actually came out semi-decent…

Sometimes I’d even get something for Tsubaki and Yuuka Kaa-san; Tsubaki collects china dolls and Yuuka Kaa-san loves any kind of tea. Most of the time, Kai goes overseas to be with his father for his birthday anyways. So I’m used to just sending him off some of his favourite snacks and a cheap music related video game for the flight. He never really cared what game it was so long as it was music related.

Apparently he can’t go this year though. It just doesn’t feel right to do the same thing. I could get him something music related, but he already has a huge collection of CDs and stuff. Maybe I should get him some weapons or something, except I’m fairly sure I’d get arrested…

Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it, maybe I’ll just go window shopping and if I see something he’d like then I’ll get it. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I’ll ask the girls if they wanna come with me.

With that thought in mind I turn my attention to my surroundings. Merda, the whole place is full of craters (now filled up with rain water)! Sensei just doesn’t hold back, does he? Today’s lesson was back to standing in a mind field and having to keep perfectly still, or get blown up. Something about improving my concentration, he had said.

Well, at least I’ve finally managed to master the art of lighting candles! I hope I never have to see another candle as long as I live. It was so hard to make a flame small enough to light the damn things without melting them in one go, but I can do it pretty much instantly now. If only I knew why the diamine I had to learn how to do such a pointless task…

I’ll be very useful should we ever have a black out at night, and any other oh-so-important occasion that may involve a candle lighting expert…

**………**

It’s raining harder now, I should have left earlier. Screw it, I’m gonna end up getting wet even if it does stop raining, whether it be from the sky of from falling over.

I tuck Leon safely away in the hood of my jacket and dash down the path through the woods. My sneakers are full of water and my jeans are splashed with mud up to my knees by the time I reach the foot of the mountain. I’m pretty much drenched as I run by the park near my street.

Maybe it was that tingly feeling in my gut nagging me, or maybe it was because I happen to fall over at the right spot, either way I somehow managed to hear this tiny mew in the bushes. When I searched between the bushes for the source of the noise, I found a soaked cardboard box covered in mud, twigs and leaves. It looked like it was about to fall apart…

I could just barely make out “To a good home” written on the side of it. If you wanted whatever was inside to go to a good home then why the diamine did you hide the damn box in the bushes like this!? Irresponsible cazzi! Carefully, I pulled the flaps aside and peered inside; curled up in the corner, shivering from the cold was the smallest cat I’d ever seen.

 **“It’s probably just a kitten.”** Aigís observed as he hovered over it curiously.

I wonder how long it’s been here for. Its fur is all dirty and soaked, I can’t even tell what colour it’s meant to be, it’s so tiny and scrawny too. The poor thing must be starving and so scared too, being left here all alone in the dark and cold… I can’t help but feel a stab of pity for it, but it’d be irresponsible of me to bring it home while knowing I can’t keep it.

Katerina won’t allow pets and Masamune utterly hates all animals (he hates kids too). While I don’t really know about Sensei and Leon, I’m sure I’ll never be able to keep it. But I can’t just leave it here all alone; it’d never survive by itself! Slowly I reach my hand towards it, stopping when it whimpers in fright.

I let it sniff my fingers a little before lightly stroking its ears. They’re surprisingly soft despite being wet and dirty. After a few minutes of petting it I pick it up; wow, it’s barely bigger than my hand!

“Ow!” It bit my thumb! And it doesn’t look like it’ll let go any time soon either!

The tiny claws sink into my hand as it clings to me for dear life. Well, it doesn’t actually hurt that much. We make eye contact; bright sky blue eyes staring into my own mismatched aquamarine and orange eyes. It sheaths its claws and it let go of my thumb too, probably trusts me not to drop it.

But what am I going to do with it now? Sigh, I suppose for now I’ll just take it home and get it cleaned up and dried off. I can figure out what to do with it afterwards. I gently place the tiny kitten in my jacket pocket and slowly trudge home through the rain. I’m already soaked so there’s no need to rush.

**………**

Luckily for me, Katerina was out all day at one of her clubs and Masamune would be at Basketball practice, as well as dealing with whatever Sensei has planned for him. So I was free to bring the kitten in without having to hide it.

Hmm, now that I think about it, “Is it still breaking and entering if it’s your own home?”

**“I wouldn’t think so… besides it’s not as if we actually _broke_ anything to get in.” **

I lost my keys in the river on the first day I got them, and never got a replacement. Not that it matters to me since I have Aigís who can unlock pretty much any door. I don’t think I’ve ever actually used a key to get in anywhere before. Padre used to get so angry at me back when we lived at our home in Italy.

I used to just go where ever I wanted, not giving a damn whether the door was locked or not. It must have driven him nuts. It’s not like I actually do that kind of thing now though, I don’t want to get caught up with the police and stuff. Oh, I wonder how that would go since my dad’s in the Mafia and all...

The pitiful mewls of the kitten bring me back to reality. I make my way upstairs to the bathroom; Katerina would flip if she could see the trail of mud and water I left. Placing the kitten down by the sink, I rummage through the cabinets. I think I should give it a wash but I don’t know if I should use soap or shampoo.

Cats have sensitive skin right? So should I use some baby shampoo or something? I think Katerina has some in here somewhere. Finally, found it! I started filling the sink up with warm water while I read the all the warnings and instructions on the bottle. The kitten just sat there shivering the whole time.

Now, how am I going to get it in the water without getting scratched and bitten? Ah, fudge it. I’m gonna get attacked to no matter what I do. So, I just lowered it very slowly into the water and carefully rinsed it off. It didn’t seem too bad at first, only got bit twice, but once the shampooing started it kicked up a huge fuss.

In the end I somehow managed to get it sparkling clean. Then I dried it off with a nice warm towel, it gave up fighting me by then and fell asleep right then and there. I wrapped it in another dry towel and set it down in the empty sink while I went and had a nice hot shower.

About half an hour later, washed and dried (and hands covered in band aids) I took the sleeping kitten down to the living room and set it on the couch. Then I went ahead and cleaned up all the water on the floor. Katerina would kill me if I just left it after all. Heck, she’d blame me even if I wasn’t the one who made the mess!

**………**

I’m so damn tired. But I’ve already slept today and I don’t want to sleep anymore.

I slump down on the living room floor in front of the couch. The kitten looks so peaceful curled up asleep like that. Now that it’s clean the colour and pattern of its fur is clear again. It’s white with black and orange splotches; I think that’s called a “calico” pattern or something, and I think it also might be a she, but I honestly have no idea.

Since it’s raining now and I’m too tired to go out again, I’ll just take her to the vet tomorrow. Maybe they can even find a home for her too. That’d be better than just leaving her in a dirty cardboard box all alone. I bet it was some idiot kid who did that; bringing her home and then dumping her in that box when their parents said no.

I jump a little when she suddenly opens her eyes. We just stare at each other for a while before it breaks eye contact by yawning. I start petting her ears again with her half-heartedly batting a paw at my hand. She’s so tiny and soft, and kinda skinny too, maybe I should feed her something.

But what would she eat? She’s only a kitten right?

**“How about some milk?”**

“Yeah, I guess that’d be okay.” Carefully I pick her up (feeling her teeth again…) and take her to the kitchen.

I place her on the bench and get a bowl and some milk for her. At first she just sniffs it suspiciously but soon starts lapping it up greedily. Geez, how long has it been since she last had something to eat? It’s really cute the way she drinks like that. I kinda wish I could keep her. She wouldn’t be that much of a bother, and I bet Katerina wouldn’t even notice!

When she finishes eating I put the bowl in the sink and carry her up to my room. (Argh, again with the teeth and claws!) She curls up to sleep on my bed almost instantly. I watch the steady rise and fall of her flank as she breathes for a while. Yep, I’m gonna try and see if I can keep her!

So she bites and scratches a little, big deal! It doesn’t actually hurt much, I can handle it. Heck, if I can handle living with Reborn-sensei then one little kitten should be no problem at all. Leon doesn’t seem to mind her, as he’s curling up to sleep beside her and she doesn’t seem to mind him either

Only issue now is Katerina and Masamune. Well, I guess Masamune doesn’t actually have to know, so that just leaves Katerina then.

**“You think she’d actually go for it?”**

“…” Would she…? “No… probably not…” I sigh, feeling even more tired than before. “But Padre might!”

I’ll ask him later since he might be busy now. There’s no telling how busy he’ll be with all the Mafia business. For the time being I’ll look up some stuff online. At least so I can learn a bit more about how to look after a kitten. The vet is bound to know more, so I’ll ask them tomorrow when I take her there.

**………**

Vets are kinda nerve racking, sitting in that quiet waiting room, the only noises coming from whimpering animals. Total strangers staring you down awkwardly, and a creepy receptionist chick, who clearly doesn’t want to be there at all… I don’t think I’ll be going back there for a while.

The vet guy seemed pretty nice, if not for the freaky doctor’s outfit and the mask thingy over his mouth and nose. His eyes were really beady. At least there’s nothing wrong with the kitten, aside from being undersized and undernourished. He said she was about three months old, and he also gave me some tips on how to look after her.

Last night had been pretty successful. After about fifty pleading messages to padre he finally relented and said I could keep her! Of course, I got the whole _responsibilities_ lecture. Announcing it to Katerina had gone surprisingly well too.

I just offhandedly told her at dinner: “Oh by the way, I found a kitten and dad said I could keep it.”

I think she was shocked into silence but she looked so pissed off. Masamune pretty much exploded demanding I get rid of the “horrible smelly fuzz ball” (he should know better than to insult a lady). Sensei just sat there smirking in amusement. I get the feeling he already knew about the new addition to the family.

He offered to give me a few lessons on taking care of pets. I said I was fine without them.

She seems happy enough to ride around in the front pocket of my hoodie. She still bites me when I pick her up though. I spent almost all my allowance on all the stuff I’d need to take care of her; food, her own dish, a little basket bed for her to sleep in and a litter tray plus litter. Dang this stuff cost a lot. I hope I still have enough money left to get Kai a present.

I should give her a name too… what would be good?

**“Why not just call her ‘Tama’?”**

“No.” She pokes her head out of my pocket and I poke her nose a lightly, she bats a paw at my finger playfully. “…Celica. I’ll call you Celica.” The name just popped into my head. She looked up at me and purred. I’ll assume that means she likes it.

When I rounded the corner to my street I spotted Kai and Sumi-chan having their usual glaring contest outside my house. Wonder what they’re doing here?

I run up to them, trying not to drop my bags (Celica promptly ducks back inside my pocket), “Kai, Sumi-chan…? What’s up?”

“Hello Cielo-kun! I don’t know about Skylark-san,” Kai snorted in annoyance at the nickname. “But I came to tell you about this.” She rummaged through her handbag and pulled out a poster. “Been shopping?”

I nod placing down some of the bags so I can take the poster, “Just a bit…” I murmur while reading the poster. It’s an advertisement for the Circus! “There’s a circus coming here?”

Sumi-chan giggled, “Hehe, yup! Do you want to go and see it?”

I haven’t been to a circus since we left Italy. “Sure, it’ll be fun!” I turn to Kai, suspecting he was here about the circus too. “Are you taking Tsubaki to see it?”

He shook his head, “No time…”

Ah, that’s right; he’d be way to busy patrolling the area looking for troublemakers to bite to death. Which means the reasons he’s here is… “Do you think she’d mind coming with us?”

He eyed Sumi-chan distrustfully but nodded nonetheless. “Hn…”

Sumi-chan smiled her usual impassive smile, “We can ask Yuki-sempai and Azusa-chan too.”

“Yeah! Let’s all go then!” Wow, this is kinda exciting! A muffled mew from Celica reminds me she’s still in my pocket.

“…Ara? Cielo-kun, did your pocket just meow?” Sumi-chan asks while Kai narrows his eyes suspiciously at me.

“Ehehe… Well…” I reach in and pull her out (why must she bite me every time?), holding her up for them to see. “I found her the other day and, well you know, kinda adopted her.”

“Aww! She’s so cute and tiny!” Sumi-chan swooned adoringly. “What her name?”

“Celica.” I mutter and she reaches out to pet her, but Celica recoils hissing. “Woah!?” She wriggles out of my hand and claws her way up my arm and onto my shoulder (quite a painful experience). “Owow… Erm… you don’t dislike cats or anything, do you Sumi-chan?”

She shakes her head in disappointment and sighs, “I love them, but it seems like a one-sided love on my part.”

Celica liked Kai a lot more and gladly let him pet her (he’s a sucker for anything small and cute like her). I think he was rather smug about it. Actually it kinda pisses me off that she always bites me, but she let him touch her with no problem. Sigh, I guess I should count myself lucky she doesn’t outright reject me like Sumi-chan.

I wonder why she doesn’t like her anyways. Oh well, I guess she’ll warm up to her eventually. As the two of them left I was vaguely aware of the fedora wearing shadow watching the whole exchange from a distance. I get the feeling Sensei might be cooking up another one of his little schemes.


	12. The Rock Band at a Circus? Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was watching K-on! when I first started writing this, hence the whole music theme going on... I do picture Cielo and his guardians forming a band of sorts eventually.
> 
> (btw the song is a Hatsune Miku one: Kocchi Muite Baby)

Merda, I can’t believe how often I get into situations that make you go “Just how the hell did I end up here!?” Seriously though, why am I standing up on a stage with my guitar, and ready to play in a band that was formed like ten minutes ago? The members of said band being: Azusa-san on drums, Sumi-chan on vocals, and Yuki-sempai on guitar too.

Reborn-Sensei is really an expert on manipulating people, and animals, and lifeless objects, and pretty much anything and everything that has even the slightest possibility of being manipulated… Holy shizzles! That’s such a terrifying thought!

**“Dafuq is ‘shizzles’ supposed to mean?”**

_“F*** you cazzo! There are small children in the bloody audience! I won’t be responsible for teaching them any more damn swear words!”_ I snap back in Italian.

**“Yes… that’s some great ‘role model’ work there…”**

_“Damn straight.”_

Well anyways…

I think one of the weirdest things about this situation is the fact we’re performing at a circus. Come on, since when do bands play at circuses!? Who the diamine decided it would be a good idea to hold a “battle of the bands” type competition at the freaking circus!? Are they out of their damn minds?

Sigh, and today started off relatively normal too. Or, you know, as normal as you can get with a sadistic mafia hitman as your home tutor. So much has happened in the span of about three hours. Heck, I could probably write a short novella on just the events of this morning.

**“…Novella… really?”**

_“Hey, I read! I know words!”_ Cazzo, mocking my vocabulary, _“And stop interrupting my thoughts!”_ Some people walking passed are giving me weird looks now…

And I have to perform in front of these people too. I try not to think about it and check over my guitar again. Honestly now, just how the diamine did I get here!?

**………**

Let’s see now…

For once Sensei had decided I didn’t have to go out for an extremely early morning tortu— I mean, _tutoring_ session. So I was able to rest in bed for a few extra hours before getting ready to go and meet everybody. Yesterday, Masamune had left for a week long training camp with the basketball club.

He looked pretty happy to be going this year; probably thinks he’ll be free of Sensei for the week. I highly doubt that though. Sensei will definitely find some way to mess with him there, and the entire basketball team too. Well, it’s none of my concern.

So, after a relatively quiet breakfast, which strangely lacked a certain sadist tutor, I went back upstairs and grabbed my wallet and IPod and was out the door before Katerina could even register I was leaving. I met Sumi-chan, Kai and Tsubaki at the front gate (Kai looked about ready to murder Sumi-chan). We left before any weapons were pulled out, thankfully.

We were about halfway there when I realised there was a cat in my pocket. Wow, that’s something I hadn’t ever pictured myself saying... Anyway, Celica had somehow managed to sneak into my pocket without me noticing. I’m guessing that Japanese cats must the descendants of cats who were the pets of ninjas.

It was too late to take her all the way back home, plus Tsubaki utterly adored her so we just brought her along. I hope she’ll be alright with all the noise and carrying on that goes on at the circus. But then again, she’d probably better off with me than suffering in Katerina’s presence.

It wasn’t even five minutes later when I realised there was a lizard on my shoulder… Wow, that’s an incredibly creepy thought, just going for a walk and discovering a random lizard on your shoulder. Ugh, I shudder at the very thought. Luckily for me, said lizard was neither creepy nor random. Um well, I guess finding Leon on my shoulder _was_ kinda random.

Guess Reborn-sensei must have left him with me again. Just what the hell is that guy planning? Err, no, forget I said that. I’d rather not know…

Okay, so, after we finally arrived at the circus Kai disappeared off to who knows where; most likely to find some rule breakers to bite to death. Sumi-chan, Tsubaki, Celica and I then went off to find Yuki-sempai and Azusa-san. We found them fairly easily, mostly because Azusa-san was yelling loudly and Sempai was laughing.

They had mixed reactions to Celica. Sempai seemed to like her, though she admitted to being more of a dog person, and Celica seemed okay with her. Though, it was more like an “I will tolerate you, but don’t touch me” kind of feeling. With Azusa-san, well, I can’t really tell if the two of them were getting along or not…

Azusa-san tried to hide it, but you could easily tell she loves cats. Celica let her touch her, but then it somehow turned into a scratch fest. Then Azusa-san started yelling which led to more scratching and a bit of hissing… I guess they don’t really get along after all. I’m just glad I only get bites.

Well, after that we set off again.

First we watched the parade, which was kinda crowded and I got pushed around a lot, but at least we managed to not get separated. I noticed there were quite a few young kids performing in this circus. The one that stood out the most to me was the little acrobat girl with the green hair. She looked to be about Tsubaki’s age, but she was really good!

I wondered if she was gonna be in the main show, but I didn’t really dwell on it much at the time. Tsubaki pretty much dragged me away to look at the animals they had (actually she just wanted to see the “carnivores”).

I don’t even want to talk about what happened with the lions… let’s just say I won’t be taking Tsubaki to the zoo. Ever. Those poor lions would be traumatised, plus I’d probably get bitten to death by Kai for letting her get anywhere near those ferocious animals. Circus lions are clearly nothing like my Padre’s pet lion, Natsu.

**………**

It was around the time we stopped to get some snacks that we ran into someone I hadn’t seen for ages.

“Eh? Sawada-san?” At first I didn’t really register that someone was talking to me exactly (people don’t usually call me Sawada), but I still looked up at the sound of my name. It’s a natural response.

The very first thing I saw were the goggles, then it was the grey hair. “Huh? Takumi-kun!?” I really wasn’t expecting to run into him here; in fact I hadn’t really thought much about him since that time at the weird fair thingy with Katerina…

“A friend of yours?” Sempai asks.

“Um… yeah, kinda…” I reply awkwardly. I barely know the guy, but I guess we sort of get along sort of well enough to become friends.

Takumi-kun gets all flustered when everyone’s attention turns to him. He looks down, red in the face, “I-I’m Oshima T-Takumi desu. Y-yoroshiku.”

As expected, the over-friendly baseball nut was quick to return the greeting, “Haha, hi! I’m Mizuno Yuki!”

“Allaire Kasumi. It’s nice to meet you.” Sumi-chan said coolly, neither looking happy nor unhappy about meeting him.

“Humph. Gokudera Azusa. Remember it wimp.” Azusa-san glared at Takumi and he shuddered fearfully. Can’t say I blame him, she can be freaking intimidating.

Tsubaki gave him the traditional Hibari family glare and muttered her name really quietly. Takumi-kun looked like he was gonna cry. I think that Tsubaki might be the most intimidating person here…

“Chaos.” I stand corrected… Sensei is definitely the most intimidating person everywhere…

“Ciaossu, Sensei.” Ah, wrong greeting. That’s getting to be a habit lately. “I thought you were torturing— I mean, _training_ Masamune.” _and all his friends too._ I add silently.

Sensei merely smirked as he pet Leon. Wait. When did Leon get from my shoulder onto his hand!? Ugh, never mind… the laws of physics and stuff never work when Reborn-sensei is involved. He probably just used his secret ninja powers. Yeah, let’s go with that.

**“Hehe, little Takumi-kun looks like a scared bunny rabbit~.”**

“Oi, oi… please don’t scare away my only _normal_ friend…” I mutter with a sigh. I would seriously like someone normal to talk to once in a while.

Sensei smirked, the kind of smirk that he has whenever one of his plans is about to unfold. I suddenly have the urge to run as far away as possible. But I’d never make it passed him. Sigh, this is probably going to be a painful experience.

**………**

The next thing I know, we’re all standing near a small outdoor stage apparently about to perform in a band. The thing that shocked me the most was the fact that my guitar was here. He went into my room when I wasn’t there and stole my guitar! MY GUITAR!!!

I had to thoroughly check it over just to make sure he hasn’t done anything weird to my precious baby. By the way, he also brought Sempai’s guitar and Azusa’s drum kit. How does he even know where they live? And since he didn’t bring anything of Sumi-chan’s, does that mean he _doesn’t_ know where she lives? I can’t even tell which is weirder...

“…Why are we here again…?” I asked, hoping I might actually get a semi-straight answer.

“Of course, you’re to win first prize in this Battle of the Bands contest.” Sensei had said it so smoothly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Eeehhh!?” Takumi and I had screamed at the same time.

“Haha what a fun sounding game!” Sempai… how could you possibly see this as a game…?

“I’ve never performed in this kind of band before. I’m so excited for this!” Sumi-chan… why are you agreeing to this straight away…?

“I-it can’t be helped. Y-you guys w-would be c-c-completely lost without m-me!” Azusa-san… why are you making it sound like you’re doing us a favour by joining…?

Tsubaki tugs my sleeve to get my attention, “Small animal… Ganbatte…” Ah, you too huh?

Why is everyone just going along with this sadist’s plans!? “Impossible! Absolutely no way!” I shout, shaking my head and waving my hands rapidly.

Sensei tilts down his fedora and chuckles, “Stop being such a wimp Dame Sora. Are you a man or not?” Just what are you implying here…?

“EEEHH!? SAWADA-SAN YOU’RE A GUY!?” Takumi-kun suddenly yells.

I felt like his words just stabbed me, “Really? I hadn’t noticed…” I think I might actually cry here…

Takumi-kun goes beet red and collapses to his knees, “I can’t believe this!” _I’m_ the one who can’t believe this! Why must everyone I meet think I’m a freaking girl!?

**“Ahahahaha! Looks like someone had a little crush on you~!”**

“I can’t help being born _beautiful_.” I deadpan. Seriously, I’m so done with this type of bullshit...

“Now that that’s all sorted, it’s time to get backstage. You’re up next.” Sensei says nonchalantly and heads to the backstage entrance.

“Wait a minute! I never agreed to this!” Why won’t anybody ever listen to me!?

**“I listen to you.”**

“Sorry… that isn’t really making me feel any better here…”

**………**

And here we are again, getting ready to perform. Takumi-kun somehow got roped into doing all the techie stuff. You know lights, sound, cables, flippy switches all that jazz. There’s another guy back there helping him, but he looks really weird. I’m not even going to go into detail about his, um, “unique” style….

Ugh, I suddenly feel like throwing up. My stomach is in knots from nervousness. Seriously, I’ve never performed in front of so many people before! Heck, the biggest audience I’ve ever had is when Kai and I would perform for Yuuka Kaa-san and Tsubaki! We haven’t even had time to practice the damn song we’re supposed to be performing!

I only know the lead guitar bit of the song too! What if I screw up? No, that’s a given. I guess I’ll just play my bit and hope for the best. The audience might not even notice if I screw up since there’s a whole band playing. Hopefully they’ll be more focused on Sumi-chan’s singing to notice me.

Gulping nervously, I adjust my microphone. “Nervous?” Sumi-chan’s sudden question nearly gives me a heart attack.

“Ah! Eh? J-just a l-little bit…” A reply awkwardly while rubbing the back of my head.

“Me too,” She says with a smile and holds up the sheet music. “I’ve never really sung a song like this before, though I’ve performed in a few concerts; I was a pianist though.”

“T-that so…?”

 **“Is she only just now learning the song?”** …Are we gonna be okay…?

“Hahaha! Don’t worry! Everything’ll be just fine!” Yuki-sempai laughs happily as she tunes up her guitar. Wow, I wish I could have that kind of confidence. How does she manage to stay so damn happy all the time?

“W-w-what? Y-y-you guys are n-nervous? Ha! W-what amateurs!” Azusa-san stutters, looking about ten times more nervous than me. She’s trembling so much even her drums are shaking.

But if I tried to comfort her she’d probably hit me or throw something at me or both… “Um… I’m so nervous because… err… will probably mess up a lot… so…” Argh, why can’t I think of anything good to say!

“It’s all good Cielo!” Sempai grins. “If you mess up then we’ll cover you!”

“That’s right!” Sumi-chan agrees smiling mysteriously like normal.

“I-it can’t be helped. I’ll lend you a h-hand if you screw up.” Well, at least Azusa-san sounds a little bit more confident.

“…Thanks…” I murmur in response. Hang on; my Reborn Senses are tingling… Turning around I find him standing right behind me (dang this guy is stealthy).

“You’re up now.” He smirks evilly.

“Eeeh!? Now!?” I’m not mentally prepared yet!

“Yes now. Get going Dame Sora.” He gives me a shoves towards the mike and disappears into thin air before I can complain.

Merda, where did all these people come from!? I swear they weren’t there a second ago! I gulp nervously and look to the others. They offer me their own anxious smiles (some more anxious than others…) and turn to listen to the commentator guy as he introduces us. Wait… Bands have names right? What in Dio’s name did Sensei put as _our_ name!?

“Let’s have a big warm welcome to ‘XI Vongola Kids’!”

…Really…?

 **“You should have seen that coming.”** Yeah, I guess I should have…

**………**

Once the, um, introduction is over and done with we dive straight into the song. Ugh, I can see a few kids from my school in the crowd, and hear shouts of “Dame Sora” too… Sigh, I just want this to be over and done with…

Azusa-san counts us in.

“One Two. One two three, yeah!”

Then Sumi-chan takes over the vocals.

 _“Tsuyogatte baka de nanka_ (Just acting tough all the time)  
_Sonshiteru kigasuru datte sou jan_ (Makes me feels like I’m losing)  
_Ienai you na koto ga shitai no_ (I want to do things we can’t talk about)  
_Anna koto toka_ (Like those sorts of things)  
_Yada... donna koto?_ (No way… What things?)  
_Otoko tte baka bakka ne_ (Really, guys are all such idiots)   
_Hen na koto ima kangaeta desho_ (You thought of something dirty didn’t you?)  
_Kimi tte uso ga tsukenai taipu_ (You’re the type that can’t lie)   
_Daibu kao ni deteru Are you ok?_ (It’s showing clearly on your face, are you okay?)  
_Joujoushakuryou no yochi nashi_ (With no room for exceptions)  
_Marude ohanashi ni naranai wa yeah_ (It’s like we can’t even talk about it, yeah~)  
_Soudai na roman kataru mae ni_ (Before we talk about some great romance)  
_Genjou bunseki dekiteru?_ (Have you properly assessed the situation?)  
_Aah! kimi tte donkan”_ (Ah! You’re so dense!)

I kinda lost myself in the song once we started. The music just flowed easily, as if we’d done this dozens of times before. Sumi-chan’s voice is sweet and she has a really high range too. The audience seems to have been stunned into silence, but then started to move and clap by the time we reached the chorus.

 _“Nee_ (Hey) _  
Chanto kocchi muite Baby_ (Make sure you look this way baby)  
_NO nante iwasenai wa_ (I won’t let you say NO)  
_Honki moodo nanda kara_ (I’m in serious mode this time!)  
_Omowazu mitorechau purupuru kuchibiru de_ (With my captivating, kissable lips)  
_Kimi o toriko ni suru no_ (I’m going to make you my slave)  
_Kyou koso shoubu nandesu!”_ (Today too, I’ll take you on!)

_“Ah! Come on Baby! Aaaaaaaah~!”_

I spot Tsubaki and Kai near the front, with Celica squirming a little in Tsubaki’s grasp. Somehow I feel more confident now, especially since the audience is really getting into it.

 _“Ijibatte bakka de nanka_ (Just being stubborn all the time)  
_Shoujiki ni narenai shouganai jan_ (I can’t be honest, there’s no helping it)  
_Ushiro kara gyutteshite hoshii no_ (I want to hug me tightly from behind)  
_Nante ne ehehe_ (Just kidding! Ehehe)  
_...tte chotto matte!?_ (Hey, wait a second!)  
_Aserasenaide mattaku_ (Don’t rush me like that, geez)   
_Souiu no tte motto muudo toka aru desho_ (you need to create the mood for it first right?)  
_Konna kimochi ni saseteoite_ (I won’t let you give me these kinds of feelings)  
_Hotto kareru nante yurusanai_ (and then leave me hanging)  
_Mou! sekinin totte?”_ (Geez! Take responsibility already!)

 _“Nee_ (hey) _  
Chotto kocchi muite Baby_ (Just look this way a bit baby)  
_NO nante iwasenai wa_ (I won’t let you say NO)  
_Sono ki ni saserunda kara_ (Because I’ll put you in the mood)  
_Omowazu ogamitakunaru you na omiashi de_ (With these legs that must be worshipped)  
_Kimi o toriko ni suru no_ (I’ll make you my slave!)   
_Deredere shinaide yo”_ (so don’t get all shy on me)

You can’t tell that Sumi-chan had just learnt this song recently; she sings it so perfectly! Everyone looks like they’re having fun. Heck, I’m having fun too. I always loved playing my guitar. Before I even realise it, we’re at the last verse.

 _“Kotoba ja tsutawannai_ (Word can’t convey)  
_Ookina ookina haato maaku_ (this huge, huge heart mark)  
_Dou shiyou mune ga kyuntoshite_ (What do I do? My chest is tightening)  
_Nannimo kangaerannai_ (I just can’t think clearly)  
_Uu... kimi tte yatsu wa”_ (Uu… guys like you are just...!)

 _“Nee_ (hey) _  
Motto kocchi muite Baby_ (Look this way more baby)  
_Nandomo iwasenaide_ (Don’t make me repeat myself)  
_Watashi mou shiranainda kara_ (Because I don’t even care anymore)  
_Omowazu kamacchaitakunaru you na no_ (If I start to unknowingly care about you a bit)  
_Mo ii kana_ (maybe I won’t mind)  
_Etto ima no wa nashi nashi_ (Um, forget what I just said there)  
_Nani yo mou monku anno~”_ (What? You got a problem with that?)

The applause from the crowd was something else…

It wasn’t a really big crowd or anything, but there were people walking passed that had stopped to listen too, making it a lot bigger than when we had started. Ugh, I suddenly feel nervous all over again. At least we’re finished now...

I exchange looks with everyone; Sumi-chan gave her usual smile, Sempai grinned even more than usual and Azusa-san looked so relieved it was over. We gave one last bow and promptly left the stage. Of course, I just have to go and trip on a random wire on the way out... Luckily, I managed to spare my guitar.

I can still hear the crowd laughing. Did someone just yell “Dame Sora”? Heh, probably… Ugh, I’m so tired all of a sudden, and we’ve still got the rest of the circus to see! I’ll bet Sensei isn’t finished with us either. I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do if we don’t win this prize. What is the prize supposed to be anyway?

Oh well, guess I’ll find out soon enough…


	13. The Unfinished Show Business Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, there is only half a chapter after this thats actually written... So everything that'll come after that will be new. I have no idea when updates will happen, but I'm hoping to at least have finished the next chapter by the end of the week. 
> 
> I will write it with my Dying Will!!!!

Reborn-sensei has abandoned me and now I’m hiding under some kind of stage in one of the circus tents~.

There’s also a very angry Azusa-san, an oblivious Yuki-sempai (who, for some reason, thinks this is all a game), an amused Sumi-chan, a totally freaking out Takumi-kun and some guy I’ve only just met (who is a total nutcase) here hiding with me. I think Kai and Tsubaki are still floating around here somewhere, but I lost track of them in all the chaos.

It’s all Sensei’s fault that we’re hiding under here. We didn’t win first prize for the contest (which I still have no idea why we even entered) and Sensei had the brilliant plan of stealing it from the actual winners. Naturally I thought he was crazy and there wasn’t any point in stealing something I don’t even want…

But it’s Reborn-sensei. No one says “no” to him. So we made plan to steal the prize (some kind of trophy and an envelope I think?) and this and that happened, we stole the prize, got caught while escaping and now we are here!

Turns out the whole contest was rigged anyways, so the son of show’s sponsor would win with his band. I felt less guilty about stealing it from them when I found out. The guy’s clearly a spoiled brat and a jerk. At least ten times worse than Masamune! I heard their encore performance. It was so bad I thought my ears would bleed…

**“Kai-chi was right to bite that tone deaf creep to death.”**

“Ahaha… You have a point…” I mutter under my breath.

Just as we were trying to figure out a way to distract them, Kai came up and started biting them to death for “noise pollution”. We took the opportunity to steal the prize while they were distracted. Though I have to wonder why and how we managed to get caught, and by the police no less!

I’m the son of a freaking mafia boss! I can’t get called in by the police! The hell am I supposed to do if they figure out just who my Padre really is!?  I’ve read and watched heaps of manga and anime that say that people in this kind of situation would just bribe the police… Hah! As if everything would go that smoothly in real life!

I’d never ask Padre to do something like that for me! He’s always so busy, not to mention he’s currently on the other side of the world. I bet it’d be a real pain to have to sort out my messes for me anyways. So it’s better if I never get into these situations on the first place! Sigh, if only Sensei would agree with me here...

**………**

After waiting in the dark for a while we decided it was safe enough to move around. So we pretty much crawled around under this stage thingy trying to find a way out. There are police and security guys everywhere! Seriously, every time we find an exit, we find a whole pile of these guys waiting for us! I’m thinking we may be running out of options here…

I glance over to Azusa-san, or at least I’m about 93% sure is Azusa-san given its so damn dark down here. “…So, now what?” I ask quietly since I figure she’s been in these kinds of situations before. Being a hitman and all...

“I’ll just blast those dogs away and then—”

“I’m against violence.”

“Tsk, then _you_ get us out of here, kuso boss!” She hisses through gritted teeth.

“Even if you ask me I don’t HIIEE—” My manly shriek is cut off by a hand being slapped over my mouth and nose. Seriously, I can’t breathe now!

“Shut up! What’s wrong with you!?” Azusa-san growls in my ear.

“What’s up Cielo?” I hear Yuki-sempai whisper over Azusa-san.

“Deres dompthig om mai beg! (There’s something on my leg!)” I mumble through the hand on my face. Okay, I’m running low of air here…

I can almost hear the “What?” that everyone’s thinking… “Ara? Something on your leg?” Okay I stand corrected; Sumi-chan is apparently fluent in muffled gibberish.

I nod violently and Azusa-san finally removes her hand, letting me gasp in some precious oxygen. I jump when tiny claws dig into me as the something crawls up my leg. Merda I’m so freaked out right now!

 **“Just use your fire to see what it is.”** Oh yeah, I can do that can’t I?

Concentrating hard, I light up a tiny orange flame in the palm of my hand and slowly turn to look at the something on my leg. I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself, just hoping it’s not a rat or something… Please don’t be a rat. Please don’t be a rat. Please don’t be a rat. Please, please, please don’t let it be a rat!

Cracking an eye open I see two sky blue orbs staring back at me. “Merda Celica! Your scared the shit out of me!”

Celica just stared at me wide eyed with her calico fur all fluffed up. I guess she got scared when Tsubaki decided to help Kai by stabbing everyone to death with her Japanese knife set that she always carries on her person. I still haven’t figured out where they’re keeping all these weapons or how they manage to materialize them out of nowhere…

Breathing a sigh of relief I put out the flame and pick up the frightened kitten. For once she didn’t bite me. I wonder if she ran away from Tsubaki or if she got lost. She must have been really scared then.

“Isn’t that your cat? I thought she was with the Hibari girl.” Takumi-kun peers over Azusa-san using his phone as a torch.

“She was.” I reply blankly, petting Celica gently between her ears and then placing her in my hood, since I can’t put her in my pocket right now.

“Wait! So she found you all the way over here!?” He sounded really impressed.

“That’s one _AWESOME_ cat!” The weird guy randomly proclaims, somehow managing to yell and whisper at the same time.

Wait, that was English right? I’m fairly positive that “ _Oosamu_ ” is an English word… it’s “Sugoi” right? That is what it means doesn’t it? Argh! Why must you use English in the middle of your sentences! If you have to talk in two different languages then at least use one I can understand! Like Italian!

“You must be a really _AWESOME_ pet owner!” He goes on, grinning from ear to ear.

I really don’t get him. This guy has a really, um, “in-your-face” kind of presence. Somehow he reminds me of Sensei, which is really weird since they look nothing alike and their personalities are totally different…

“ _CALAMITY_!” He suddenly whisper/shouts, making me nearly jump out of my skin. “I don’t know the names of my new _AWESOME_ friends!”

…Um, what? We’re friends now? Er, okay… “Oh, um, well I’m Sawada Cielo… That’s Gokudera Azusa, Mizuno Yuki, Kasumi Allaire and I guess you already met Takumi… And you are…?”

Even in the dark I can see his double thumbs up, “I AM…!”

“…”

“…”

“…” This is a very long for a dramatic pause…

“…Son E. Dae!” He declares finally. “Just call me ‘Sunny’ my new _AWESOME_ buddies!”

…I get the feeling he made that up on the spot. There’s no way that is his real name unless his parents were high and/or drunk when they named him. I have no idea how to react to that.

 **“Just smile and nod Cielo… Smile and nod…”** Yes, I do believe that might be the best course of action right now…

“…O-okay then… um, Sunny-san…” I mutter and force a smile. Its good thing it’s dark in here after all.

**………**

Somehow or another, we ended up backstage where all the circus performers are getting ready. Now the only issue is getting out undetected and if we could somehow manage to get home in one piece, that’d be great too.

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask hoping that someone might have an idea, because I most certainly don’t.

“…” Le silence ensues~.

Okay, it’s official. We’re screwed…

“Um… we could, you know, sneak out into the stands…?” Takumi-kun suggests nervously. I think he’s probably regretting having met me here today.

“Baka! They’ll be searching in the audience too!” Azusa-san growls at him sending the poor guy cowering behind me.

“Now, now there’s no need to get angry at him.” Sempai tries to calm her down.

“I already said not to scare off my only _normal_ friend… please…” I mutter. I doubt anyone actually heard me though…

 **“And we’ve lost the freaky psychic chick~.”** Aigís randomly announces.

“We’ve lost who now?” I do a head count and realise that Sumi-chan has vanished.

Fantastico… Now we have to look for her while trying not to get caught. Argh! These women are driving me nuts! The bachelor life is starting to look really good to me right now.

I give up; let’s all just get caught already so I can go home. I hope Sensei at least took my precious guitar home with him. That is, if he _did_ go home after all that. Ugh, I’m so done with this.

I step out from behind the conveniently placed stack of clown equipment and scan the room for Sumi-chan. Oh there she is, talking to some of the trapeze or acrobat people (one or the other, I can’t really tell which). I walk all nonchalantly over to her and can you believe no one stopped even though I walked all the way across the room?

Oh well, I’ll take any form of good luck, however small it may be. “Uh, Sumi-chan? What are doing?” I ask the peach blonde girl bluntly.

“Ah, Cielo! There you are.” Why are you making it sound like I’m the one who wandered off? Cause for once it wasn’t me who got lost (and that’s a personal achievement~). “We were just talking about you.”

Who’s “ _we_ ”?

Something green catches in the corner of my vision and I look down to see a little girl pouting at me. She’s about Tsubaki’s height, maybe a little taller, wearing a pink and gold leotard and brightly coloured ribbons decorating her braided green hair. Seriously though, she’s really pouting at me with tears in her eyes like I did something wrong.

“Um… Ciaossu?” Seriously, what is up with this kid?

“The amazing Rita-Hime should be greeted first paesano!” She burst out suddenly, with a rather heavy Italian accent, stomping her foot loudly. “As an apology you must give Rita-Hime candy!”

The hell…?

**“Wow, what a spoilt brat!”**

“Rita-Hime demands candy!” She whined loudly. Dio, this brat is worse than Masamune…

As I try to defend myself from this bratty princess’s attempts to mug me for my nonexistent candy, Sumi-chan randomly decides to give me some of her cryptic advice; “Hehe, you know Cielo… Thunder and the Sun are almost complete opposites but when they come together they make a spectacular combination. You’re very fortunate to encounter both in one day!”

Le blank stare…

“Um… yeah, okay then… lucky me…” I give her a half-hearted thumbs up. Seriously, I do not understand this crazy chick’s fortune telling or whatever it is…

**……….**

“Oi, Kuso boss! And you, French girl!” Azusa-san appears along with the rest of the guys. By now that Rita brat had given up trying to get candy from me and was sulking in the corner, “What the heck are you doing!? We’re supposed to be hiding!”

Then why the diamine did you all come out here?

“ _What are you kids doing back here?”_ I jump as a burly moustached man (probably the Ringleader guy, judging from his clothes) stalks angrily over to us. Yep, we’re screwed now…

Wait, just now… He was speaking in Italian? Why? Well, now that I really look around, all these people do look Italian, and everything is written in Italian, and they’re all speaking Italian… Why didn’t I notice this before?

“ _Oh, um, we are…”_ I stammer trying to think up some excuse. “ _Uh… The part-timers…?”_ Ah, that was such a feeble excuse.

He stares very intently at me then shifts his gaze over the rest of our little gang of misfits. Suddenly he breaks into a huge grin, “ _Aha! Si, si! We have been expecting you!”_

I blink a couple of times and (very discreetly) pinch myself. Nope, I didn’t pass out or anything, so that means… It really worked? Score!

“ _Ahaha, please forgive my rudeness_.” He rubs his hands together, all bashful-like. “ _I wasn’t expecting the Vongola Circus to be sending us such young performers such as yourselves.”_

…V-Vongola Circus!!! The hell? Don’t tell me this is another one of Reborn’s schemes! Yeesh, that’s two in one day. Or could their really be a “Vongola Circus”…?

 **“Either way, you’ve got no choice but to go with it.”** True…

“ _Yeah, well, erm….”_ I stumble over my words and look to the others for support; only to remember that most of them can’t even speak Italian… Merda…

“ _We at the Vongola Circus believe in the potential of our future generations. The boss thought our troop would gain much from working under your experienced and professional troop.”_ Azusa-san saves the day!

“ _Yes, indeed.”_ The Ringleader strokes his moustache, looking very pleased with himself. Nice one Azusa-san!

“What’s going on?” Yuki-sempai asks with bad timing…

“ _Uh! M-Most of our troop are in fact from our Japanese branch… so they, er, can’t speak Italian…?”_ I hurriedly explain as he starts to look suspicious. Turning to the others I add, “Just checking in with Ringleader-san, ahaha…” None of them look like they understand…

“Ah, I see.” He switched to heavily accented Japanese. “So, each of you has own act, yes? Let’s be hearing it then!”

Oh crap. The fatal flaw in my fiendishly clever plan has just revealed itself. We’re so screwed… again…

Yuki-sempai opens her mouth, looking like she’s about to ask what’s going on again, so I quickly cut her off, praying she’ll follow through. “Y-Yuki-sempai! She can do this amazing, er…” I trail off unable, prompting her to finish for me, but she just looks at me confusedly… “Um, juggling act…? Can’t you Sempai?”

“Hmm? Yeah sure, nothin’ special, I just do a bit of knife juggling for parties and stuff!” She grins, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. Are you serious…? Whatever, I’m just going with it.

“A-and Azusa-san here can, um…”

“I do a special fireworks display.” She finishes for me, looking rather smug for some reason.

The Ringleader seemed impressed, “Fireworks! How exciting! And what can this tall gentleman be doing?” He turns to Sunny-san, who has just been standing there grinning the whole time.

Sunny-san spins around dramatically and finishes in an elaborate thumbs up pose, “AWESOME aerial stunts!” He declares. Is he following through, or is that an actual talent? I really can’t tell…

“Excellent, excellent! We is having a very good trapeze troop here.” The Ringleader was pleased either way. He then turns to Sumi-chan.

“Um, Sumi-chan does magic tricks!” Dio, I hope my hunch is right here…

“Ara, how did you know that Cielo-kun?” Yes! Magic just seemed like something she’d be interested in.

“And Takumi-kun is just here to help with our costumes and whatnot…” I add and he flashes me a grateful look. Sigh, at least somebody has figured out what’s going on.

“I see you is being well prepared! And? What is your act?” He looks at me expectantly. Oh shit.

“Er, I can… um… well…” I glance all around looking for some kind of inspiration. All I seem to find is a bunch of Mafia related objects that I can’t believe I didn’t notice before. But then it hits me. “I do a special Shinuki no Honou act.”

Please buy it, please buy it!

His eyes light up immediately, “Shinuki is it!? Stupendo! Fantactico! We will be having great performance tonight!” Yes! He bought it! And oh crap, this really is a mafia related circus… “Come, come! It’s time to be getting ready for the show!”

“…Y-yeah…” I stammer and follow him to what I assume will be some kind of dressing room or prep area…

**………**

Well, we managed to dodge another bullet, but now we stuck performing for this Mafia Circus! How does that saying go again? _Out of the Rock Band and into the Circus?_

When the Ringleader guy finally left us alone to prepare, we managed to explain the situation to the still clueless ones. They took it shockingly well considering how deep the shit we’ve gotten ourselves into is. Sigh, I guess I should be grateful for having such _understanding_ friends…

It was at this point that I realised we only had about half an hour to prepare an entire circus act, plus costumes (read ‘disguises’). It was also at this point that Takumi-kun discovered the weird green chest sitting in the middle of the room. It had bright yellow eyes too. I knew this was just another Reborn-scheme…

Inside the Leon-chest was a bunch of fancy circus costumes that even came with face paint and masks! At least the man is well prepared. Now there’s just the question of where the heck he is…

 **“Don’t you have more important things to think about right now**?” I guess so…

It was unanimously decided that we should get changed into our costumes (disguises) first, and then figure out what to do. Fortunately there was a separate room for the girls to get dressed in.

Our costumes all sort of matched in the style, but the colours were all different. I wore a fancy bright orange and black suit with coattails, gold ornate stitching, black gloves, and a top hat with an orange band. Lastly I had a white mask with decretive orange symbols that covered the top half of my face.

Sunny-san pretty much had the same as me, except in yellow, no shirt and he wore his jacket open revealing a well-toned muscly chest. Dang, this guy must work out or something. He didn’t have a hat and his mask had yellow designs etched over it. His bangs hid his eyes before anyways so I don’t really see the need for the mask, but whatever.

Takumi-kun’s clothes were slightly plainer, the colours black and white didn’t really stand out much next to us and he had no hat. His mask was just plain white and covered all of his face. I said he could just stand by the props and pretend to help while we figure out our escape plan. He looked really relieved.

The girls had coattails like us, but Azusa-san wore a skirt, her costume was red, Sempai wore three-quarter length pants, she was blue, and Sumi-chan just wore a leotard, hers was in indigo. They had decorated the visible part of their faces with the face paint too.

Heck, they even did up their hair and everything! Azusa-san had tied little red pompom thingies into her hair and added glitter (that is gonna be a bitch to remove later). Sempai wore a really cool bowler hat with a dark blue band. And Sumi-chan had a mini top hat clipped into her hair, plus a bunch of ribbons tied into her ponytail.

Next we got out the props from the Leon-chest, and he promptly turned back into a chameleon once we took everything out. Now we really look like a circus troop! Sempai looks pretty cool all decked out in knives and is that a katana too? Okay then… Sumi-chan looked like a real magician; she had a staff and everything!

Azusa-san had fireworks (AKA bombs) hidden all over her body, which isn’t all that different from normal if I really think about it. Even Sunny-san looked cool, just like a strongman or something. Suddenly I felt sick to my stomach, realising we only had like five minutes left to come up with something…

“Um, so now what do we do…?” I ask hesitantly, praying somebody had an answer.

Le silence ensues~ (...again…)

“I guess we’ll just wing it?” Sempai offers with a light laugh.

Azusa-san opens her mouth to yell at her when the Ringleader returns, “Ah, Excellent! Everyone is being ready now, yes? On with the show!” He proclaims happily, ushering us out.

Merda, we are so very, very screwed right now. But judging from the looks on everyone’s faces, they at least have some idea of what they’re going to do. That’s reassuring. If only I had a clue as to what I’m gonna do…

 **“Relax, all you have to do if a few little tricks with your flame. Just like when your with Kai-chi or Sadist-Sensei~.”** Easier said than done Aigís…


End file.
